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More than 10.4 lakh passengers were affected by flight cancellations in December, with IndiGo accounting for over 93 per cent of the disruptions, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The aviation regulator said scheduled domestic airlines spent over ₹24.27 crore on compensation and passenger facilities for cancellations impacting 10.46 lakh travellers during the month. Of this, IndiGo alone affected 9.82 lakh passengers and incurred an expenditure of ₹22.74 crore towards facilitation.

The overall cancellation rate for scheduled domestic airlines stood at 6.92 per cent in December, while IndiGo’s cancellation rate was significantly higher at 9.65 per cent. The country’s largest airline witnessed major operational disruptions in early December, which also reflected in its market share declining to 59.6 per cent from 63.6 per cent in November.

The DGCA data further showed that flight delays affected 8.34 lakh passengers in December, with airlines spending ₹4.50 crore towards facilitation. During the same period, 2,050 passengers were denied boarding, for which airlines paid ₹2.08 crore as compensation and facilitation.

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Passenger complaints also rose during the month, with scheduled domestic airlines receiving 29,212 passenger-related complaints. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried stood at 20.41.

Despite the disruptions, domestic airlines carried 1,669.46 lakh passengers during January–December 2025, compared to 1,613.31 lakh passengers in the corresponding period of the previous year, registering an annual growth of 3.48 per cent. However, passenger traffic saw a monthly decline of 4.14 per cent in December.

In terms of market share, the Air India Group and Akasa Air improved their positions to 29.6 per cent and 5.2 per cent, respectively, in December. SpiceJet’s market share rose to 4.3 per cent from 3.7 per cent in November, while Alliance Air’s share remained unchanged at 0.4 per cent.