Ajit Jha
New Delhi, Dec 21 (UNI): The year 2025 proved to be extremely challenging for the Indian aviation sector. While the Air India plane crash in the first half of the year shook the entire nation, the IndiGo crisis in the final months saw thousands of passengers stranded for hours at airports, and much more struggling to reach their destinations as thier flights were cancelled at the last moment.
Everything was going hunky dory in the Indian skies until March. In the first quarter of the year – number of passengers had increased by 10.35 per cent to 4.32 crore, and it was expected that the monthly number of passengers would cross 1.5 crore for the first time during the summer holidays. But things unfolded the other way.
After terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025 many holidayers cancelled their trip to Jammu and Kashmir. Then, in early May, India attacked terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. This ensued a conflict at the western border. India and Pakistan restricted their airspaces for each other, and situation continues to be the same till date.
It started putting pressure on Indian aviation sector. Flights had to be cancelled on several routes, and detours on many international routes increased travel time, and airline costs. On top of this, the rise in aviation fuel prices further pressurised balance-sheets of airlines, already struggling to make a profit.
In May, the number of air passengers increased by only 1.89 per cent year-on-year, as it saw a second consecutive decline month-on-month.
In June, the country witnessed one of the worst air accidents in its aviation history. Air India flight AI 171 took off from Ahmedabad airport in Gujarat with 230 passengers and 12 crew members on board for Gatwick Airport in London crashed immediately after take-off, as the aircraft failed to gain altitude, leaving all the passengers, except one, and all the crew members losing their life.
Another 19 casualties were reported on ground and 67 were seriously injured. The accident shook the entire nation.
The preliminary investigation report of the Air India crash attributed pilot error as the main cause. Further investigation is ongoing, and the final report is awaited.
The accident had shaken the confidence of Indian travellers on their favourite mode of travel. It impacted the growth momentum briefly. The passenger numbers for October 2025 at 137.4 million was at the lowest rate of growth of 3.97 per cent. That was the slowest growth rate since the post Covid uptake in travel.
Through all this, new airports, new flights and new terminals were added. One Mega airport in Navi Mumbai and two RCS airports in Satna and Datia in Madhya Pradesh were inaugurated this year. Patna and Guwahati airports got new terminal buildings, and Purnia in Bihar made its presence in aviation network. Navi Mumbai airport is all set to start commercial operations from Dec 25.
The DGCA implemented the second phase of changes to Flight Duty Time Limitations from Nov 01, 2025. It mandated 48 hour rest per week for pilots, delinked rest hours with week-offs, changed definition of night duty (midnight to 0600 hours) and restricted maximum number of landing during night duty to two. All this necessitated more manpower.
As a result, IndiGo, which holds more than 60 per cent of the domestic passenger share, cancelled more than 1,200 flights in November, and its flight delays also increased. By December, situation aggravated further, and a large number of flights were cancelled from Dec 03 onwards.
Things turned worst on Dec 05 when IndiGo cancelled more than 1,500 flights. Throughout the first week of December, the airlines cancelled thousands of flights, causing inconvenience to Lakhs of passengers. Many people were unable to reach their destinations. Passengers stranded at various airports also expressed their anger.
IndiGo has primarily blamed technical reasons and the new FDTL rules for this entire crisis. The government has constituted a high-level committee to investigate the matter. The department related parliamentary standing committee has also summoned officials from IndiGo, the Airports Authority of India, and the DGCA on the fiasco.
Overall, this year has been a forgettable one for the Indian aviation sector, nonetheless with few green patches that were shadowed under thick clouds.
