Network Thoughts

Top 10 Indian airports by weekly international seats - April 2026 (~ approx seats) 1. Delhi (2.55 lakh) 2. Mumbai (1.95 lakh) 3. Bengaluru (86k) 4. Chennai (72k) 5. Hyderabad (66k) 6. Kochi (63k) 7. Kozhikode (37k) 8. Kolkata (33k) 9. Ahmedabad (31k) 10. Trivandrum (29k)

April 2026: Top 10 carriers offering International seats out of India (~ approx Weekly Seats) 1. IndiGo (2,10,000) 2. Air India (1,15,000) 3. Air India Express (88,000) 4. Emirates (61,000) 5. Etihad (38,000) 6. Singapore Airlines (27,000) 7. Qatar Airways (24,000) 8. Air Arabia (20,000) 9. AirAsia Bhd (17,500) 10. Thai Airways (16,500)

IndiGo launches services on Delhi Colombo sector and adds a 4th daily on Delhi Kathmandu 6E 1169 DEL 1840 CMB 2220 6E 1170 CMB 2320 DEL 0255 6 weekly service with 320neo 6E 1161 DEL 1750 KTM 1950 6E 1162 KTM 2050 DEL 2225 Daily service with 320neo @networkthoughts

Top 10 foreign carriers from India, by passenger's carried in Q4-CY25 1. Emirates 2. Etihad 3. Singapore Airlines 4. Qatar Airways 5. Air Arabia 6. Saudia 7. Malaysia Airlines 8. Lufthansa 9. Srilankan Airways 10. Thai Airways

Indian aviation domestic summer season : The next 15 markets After looking at the top 10 markets in the last post, time to turn our attention to the next 15 markets. All these markets are IndiGo heavy with only Bagdogra (IXB) being an exception where Air India is bigger and is growing . As a reminder, all data is for the last week of May 2026 compared to May 2025, measured as average daily departures ✈️The overall trend even in these markets is of decline with the exception of Lucknow and Jaipur which were capacity constrained last year because of runway closures. ✈️Srinagar also sees growth but the base is the post Pahalgam attack time where tourist inflow dropped significantly. Even with this growth, Srinagar is well below it's peak where it used to clock upwards of 40 daily departures in prior years, with both Goair & Spicejet contributing significant numbers ✈️Nagpur also sees 20% growth with both Air India and IndiGo adding capacity. Bagdogra as noted above sees healthy growth in line with seasonality ✈️Both Goa airports see drops even relative to the previous year summer with connectivity drops despite additions from Navi Mumbai ✈️Both Varanasi & Patna had seen sizeable jumps in the winter schedule but see de growth in May indicating the seasonality of traffic flows ✈️Bhubhaneshwar sees a massive drop with airlines pulling out all flights that were dependent on state government support where destinations like Kochi, Lucknow, Indore etc saw new services launched in previous years that havent proved viable

India Domestic Summer Season 2026 : The grand reallocation of capacity Most airlines have loaded for sale their plans for Summer 2026. Below is the analysis for the top 10 markets for the top 5 airlines (Air India & Express combined) basis flights available for sale in the end of May as of March 10 compared to last week of May 2025 ✈️Big picture - no growth , massive reallocation of capacity Delhi & Mumbai which have been growth starved owing to capacity constraints see all the growth through Navi Mumbai and Delhi constraints easing. DEL sees capacity (frequency) growth of 7% and the Mumbai region with NMI & BOM see a capacity increment of 15% ✈️As a consequence given flat total capacity, all other markets face a decline in departures. Bengaluru is relatively shielded given the growth of Air India Express (IX) but it is a bloodbath across other metros with drops from both IndiGo and Air India group (particularly post their restructuring last winter) ✈️Navi Mumbai (NMI) breaks into the top 10 at 9th place with 72 daily departures (approx 8 mn pax per annum at this rate) ✈️Both Air India and IndiGo see a marginal reduction in capacity (the latter possibly owing to aircraft returns of the IX 320 ceo fleet) ✈️Mumbai (BOM) will likely still be slightly ahead of BLR despite the cuts & shifts to NMI from IndiGo largely because of the Turboprop capacity at BLR (lower capacity per departure) ✈️IndiGo is deploying more capacity in April (eg on BLR HYD or MAACJB) but cuts back from 1st may - these may be an indication of capacity reserved for DXN that may get deployed closer to time ✈️The big unknown is the impact of fuel prices and fuel surcharges on demand. Given capacity is declining in the top 10 markets and even beyond, if passenger numbers fall (price elasticity) you could see further capacity cuts

IndiGo drops Delhi Thiruchirapalli (TRZ) to 4 weekly and Delhi Tirupati to 3 weekly from the start of the summer schedule on 29th March @networkthoughts

After Air India Express, IndiGo also cuts Hindon Ghaziabad operations significantly in summer Only Bengaluru gets a daily connection while Kolkata & Varanasi get 6 weekly service. Chennai is served 4 weekly @networkthoughts

Air India to operate 78 additional international flights starting tomorrow networkthoughts.com/2026/03/09/air…

IndiGo adds premium capacity out of Mumbai (BOM) with ✈️3 daily additional services to Delhi (DEL) - all 23 daily equipped with Stretch ✈️2 additional services to Bengaluru (restoration back to 15x daily) - all with Stretch all 8 daily services to CCU & 10 daily to MAA are stretch equipped ✈️Restoration of Hyderabad capacity back to 10 daily (regular all economy aircraft with no stretch) H/t to @jesht_normie @networkthoughts

IndiGo adds 2 daily frequencies on Delhi Bengaluru route in the summer schedule. All 17 daily frequencies are Stretch equipped. @networkthoughts

Air India to start services to Hanoi, Vietnam from Delhi starting May 01, 2026. Flights to operate five times a week. The airline will operate the A320neo in three class confirmation. Starting June 15, 2026, Air India will launch flights to Tokyo Haneda from Mumbai. 787-8 Dreamliner will operate the four weekly service.

IndiGo to add Jamnagar to its network effective April 23, 2026 IndiGo will operate Daily flights from Navi Mumbai, deploying the A320 family aircraft 6E2053 NMI1600 - 1730JGA 6E2054 JGA1810 - 1935NMI

ATF prices in India effective 01-Mar-2026, INR 96,638.14 per KL in Delhi. Price announcement before the middle east conflict. Prices are UP 5.7% over last month and UP 1.3% over Mar'25. USD-INR Exchange: Rupee is weaker by 4.3% over Mar'25. NTATF NT_ATF #NTATF

IndiGo to reinstate connectivity to Reunion Island from India IndiGo to launch thrice a week service to Reunion Island from Chennai, from April 29, 2026 6E1871 MAA1220 - 1710RUN 6E1872 RUN1810 - 0210(+1)MAA Flights operate on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, operated by A320 family

Air India Express will resume flight operations to and from Muscat starting tomorrow, March 3, with scheduled services to Delhi, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mangaluru, Mumbai and Tiruchirappalli. The first Air India Express flight from Muscat will operate to Tiruchirappally, departing at 10:25 hours local time. Meanwhile, flight operations to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE remain suspended until 23:59 hrs IST (18:29 hrs UTC) on March 3, 2026.

IndiGo will augement it's China operations with flights to Shanghai from Kolkata starting March 29, 2026 6E1709 CCU2145 - 0440(+1)PVG 6E1710 PVG0540 - 0905CCU IndiGo currently operates to Guangzhou from Delhi and Kolkata

IndiGo's slots for Summer 2026 at London Heathrow come from British Airways Does this potentially open up more flights to Heathrow for IndiGo, with slots from Virgin Atlantic?

Domestic traffic in India in January 2026 - 1.52 crore passengers Highest Passenger Load Factor - Akasa Air (93.2%) Highest market share - IndiGo (63.6%) Highest OTP (at 10 major airports) - IndiGo (70.9%) Lowest OTP - SpiceJet (56.8%) Highest OTP amongst 10 major airports - Chennai (87.7%) Lowest OTP amongst 10 major airports - Mumbai (49.2%) Passengers impacted by Cancellation - 129999 Passengers impacted by Delays - 384959

Top 5 states / UT in India by air traffic (International): January 2026 1. Delhi 2. Maharashtra 3. Kerala 4. Karnataka 5. Tamil Nadu