Airline capacity in India fell 4.5% year-on-year in September, dropping to 22.7 million seats despite the festive season drawing closer.

Air India’s seat count fell 8.8%, a reduction of about 309,000 seats, bringing its September total to 3.2 million seats.

SpiceJet posted the sharpest cuts among major carriers, down 45.2%, or roughly 215,000 seats, linked to reported payment troubles with aircraft lessors.

IndiGo, India’s largest airline with about half the market, reduced capacity by 4.5% to 11.3 million seats.

Akasa Air and Emirates were the exceptions, growing capacity by 5% and 0.3% respectively compared with last year.

Akasa Air and Emirates were the only carriers to add capacity in the period, growing by 5% and 0.3% respectively compared with September 2025.

Domestic capacity overall fell 5.6% year-on-year, while international capacity declined by a smaller 2.1% over the same period.

Low-cost carriers continued to dominate the market, accounting for 69% of total capacity at 15.7 million seats, even as that figure itself declined 4% year-on-year.

The reductions come despite expectations that airlines would ramp up capacity ahead of India’s festive season, a period that typically sees a seasonal spike in air travel demand.

Industry watchers have cited geopolitical tensions in West Asia, elevated fuel prices and softer demand as the combined drivers behind the sector-wide pullback in scheduled seats.

IndiGo remains India’s largest carrier by far, with 11.3 million seats in September, or roughly 50% of the total market, even after a 4.5% year-on-year reduction of 525,600 seats.

Air India’s September capacity stood at 3.2 million seats, a 14% market share, down 8.8% from a year earlier, a reduction of around 309,000 seats.

Air India Express also trimmed capacity by 2.6%, cutting around 68,000 seats compared with September last year.

SpiceJet posted the steepest cuts of any carrier, reducing capacity by 45.2%, or roughly 215,000 seats, amid reported payment difficulties with aircraft lessors.

Photo of an IndiGo Airbus A320, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

More than 550 flights faced delays at IGI Airport on Friday after a red alert rain spell hit Delhi.

Palam saw the city’s highest rainfall total at 75.6mm, with Naraina, Janakpuri, Lodhi Road and Safdarjung also recording heavy downpours.

Ten flights were diverted during the disruption, with five sent to Jaipur, four to Lucknow, and one each to Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

Flooding around Terminal 3 and the Vasant Kunj underpass slowed access to the airport, adding to the day’s travel woes.

IndiGo and Air India issued advisories urging passengers to check flight status before heading out and to allow for slower road travel.

IndiGo and Air India both issued advisories asking passengers to check their flight status before leaving for the airport and to allow extra time given slow road movement.

The IMD’s red alert signals the most severe warning level, reserved for extremely heavy rainfall expected to cause significant disruption to daily life and infrastructure.

Delhi has faced repeated bouts of airport disruption this monsoon season, with heavy rain periodically triggering diversions and delays at IGI in recent weeks.

IGI Airport is one of the busiest in the country, typically handling well over a thousand flight movements a day, meaning disruptions there tend to cascade across the wider domestic network.

Passengers travelling to and from Delhi in the coming days have been advised to monitor airline communications closely given the ongoing unsettled weather pattern.

Palam recorded the highest rainfall in Delhi at 75.6mm by late afternoon, while Naraina registered 54mm, Janakpuri 48.5mm, Lodhi Road 34.6mm and Safdarjung 32.6mm.

Five aircraft were redirected to Jaipur, four to Lucknow, and one each to Ahmedabad and Chandigarh as the airport struggled to handle the volume of traffic during the downpour.

Waterlogging paralysed traffic around Terminal 3 and the underpass linking the airport to Vasant Kunj, compounding the disruption for passengers travelling to and from IGI.

Photo by Ravi Dwivedi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Air India’s Delhi-Manila route is getting a bigger aircraft, with the airline set to deploy a 256-seat Boeing 787 Dreamliner from October 25, 2026, in place of the current 188-seat Airbus A321.

The daily service has grown steadily since it launched in October 2025 with just five weekly flights, a ramp-up that reflects sustained travel demand between the two countries.

Load factors on the Manila-Delhi sector have twice touched the low 80s, according to aviation analyst Ameya Joshi, a figure that helps explain Air India’s decision to add capacity now.

The move comes as competition builds on the route, with IndiGo applying for Philippine regulatory approval to begin its own flights to Manila and Cebu.

Philippine Airlines is separately preparing to launch Delhi and Mumbai services during the winter schedule, drawing on a bilateral agreement that permits up to 28 weekly flights between the two countries’ key cities.

Indian arrivals in the Philippines rose 43% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, with visa-free travel access for Indian passport holders cited as a major factor behind the growth.

Indian arrivals in the Philippines rose 43% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, with more than 60,000 Indian travellers visiting the country in that period alone.

Visa-free access for Indian passport holders travelling to the Philippines has been cited by industry watchers as a key driver behind the surge in leisure and business travel between the two countries.

India and the Philippines elevated their bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership in 2025, a diplomatic shift that has coincided with expanded airline interest in connecting the two markets.

IndiGo, which already dominates India’s domestic skies with roughly two-thirds market share, has been steadily building out its international network beyond South Asia and the Gulf in recent quarters.

The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that Air India will deploy on the upgraded Manila service is a twin-aisle, twin-class aircraft commonly used on the airline’s long-haul international routes.

Photo by Steve Knight, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0