India, the world’s fastest-growing aviation market is dependent on just two two major domestic carriers, IndiGo and Air India.
Published: December 6, 2025 7:19 PM IST
IndiGo flight cancellations: Domestic air travel across the country was crippled over the past few days as hundreds of flights of IndiGo Airlines– India’s largest domestic carrier– were cancelled due to a wide-range of issues, including the airline’s scrupulous mismanagement triggered by the its alleged plans of blackmailing the Indian government.
IndiGo’s insidious plan to hold the government to ransom has proved catastrophic for India’s aviation sector, hapless passengers, as well as the entire economy, triggering a domino effect that has resulted in the hotel fares and fares of other airlines going through the roof, even as the Minister in charge seems helpless to deal with the crisis.
Interestingly, India, the world’s fastest-growing aviation market is dependent on just two two major domestic carriers, IndiGo and Air India, and this duopoly is not mere accident, but the result of chronic policy failure and regulatory inertia, according to experts.
Analysts note how over the past 20 years, the Indian government has allowed major airlines to collapse instead of restructuring them under new ownership, with Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines being two glaring examples of this policy failure. Many believe the state could have revived these carriers if it had simply removed their respective promoters, Naresh Goyal and Vijay Mallya.
Similarly, Go First met a similar fate even when it was clear that its downfall was triggered by engine supply failures rather than managerial incompetence. However, policymakers chose not to intervene or establish a framework to assist the carrier, resulting in Go Air becoming another casualty in wake of policy incompetence.
Experts say the demise of three airlines within a decade in a large aviation market like India points at systemic failure to protect competition and consumer interest, not corporate mismanagement, as many would like to believe.
Currently, IndiGo holds more than half of the aviation market share, Air India group holds most of the remaining share, while smaller carriers exist only on the fringes, unable to exert meaningful pressure. This duopoly has allowed market leaders to dictate prices, capacity, and service standards with little accountability.
Additionally, this arrangement has carved a suffocating environment for passengers, with airfares on busy routes often exceeding comparable distances in Europe, Southeast Asia, or even the United States.
A two-hour domestic flight in India often costs more than four-hour international flights elsewhere, and this exorbitant pricing is the result of restricted supply, weak oversight, and a regulatory system that appears increasingly comfortable with limited competition.
Market experts believe that India’s aviation sector acquires at least 8-10 airline carriers to generate competition, stabilise fares, and reduce the risk of disruptions. But new carriers often face steep barriers, with license approvals taking ages, while foreign airlines who seek to launch operations in India are blocked to due to the country’s outdated protectionist policies.
However, contrary to the government’s claims, these restrictions do not safeguard Indian consumers, but are designed to protect the interests of the two largest private carriers, while travelers are forced to pay inflated fares and endure deteriorating service quality.
Additionally, opaque decision-making, irregular enforcement, arbitrary slot allocation, and no dedicated passenger rights authority, makes India’s aviation sector one with the least accountability, even as the government refuses to liberalise this restrictive ecosystem which benefits vested interests, turning India into one of the world’s costliest domestic aviation markets.
The duopoly is being maintained at the cost of the common passenger, amid a systemic rot that hints at an alleged silent understanding between the state and the airline carriers.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: india.com
