Air India, SpiceJet lead airline capacity cuts ahead of festive season

Air India and SpiceJet led a broader pullback in Indian airline capacity this September, even with the festive season approaching.

Overall seat capacity across Indian carriers fell 4.5% year-on-year to 22.7 million seats for the month.

SpiceJet cut capacity by 45.2%, the steepest reduction of any major airline, trimming around 215,000 seats amid reported payment issues with aircraft lessors.

Air India’s capacity fell 8.8%, or about 309,000 seats, taking its September total to 3.2 million seats and a 14% market share.

IndiGo, which holds roughly half the domestic market, reduced capacity by 4.5% to 11.3 million seats, even as Akasa Air and Emirates bucked the trend with modest gains.

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.

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.

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