Archive · 24 Aug 2026
Middle East Conflict Hits Indian Aviation; Delhi Defies Downturn
A long conflict in the Middle East has made some flights harder to operate.
Airlines have had to take longer routes because some airspace is restricted.
Some people are also choosing not to travel to certain overseas destinations.
Because of this, five large Indian airports handled fewer flights than a year earlier.
Chennai and Hyderabad saw the biggest drops.
Delhi was different and handled more flights.
Fewer people flew within India in July than in the same month last year.
IndiGo carried the largest share of passengers and also had the best on-time performance among the airlines measured.
Flight operations fell at five of India’s six major metro airports in June and July year-on-year.
Chennai and Hyderabad recorded the steepest declines, each losing about 20% of operations in June and nearly 19% in July.
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport was the only major metro airport to grow, with operations up 8% in June and 2.5% in July.
Indian airlines carried about 12 million domestic passengers in July, 4.8% fewer than in July of the previous year.
IndiGo had the strongest July punctuality among assessed scheduled carriers at 91.2%, while SpiceJet recorded the lowest at 34.6%.
- Who
- Indian airlines, India’s major airports, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and aviation analytics firm Cirium.
- What
- India’s aviation operations and domestic passenger traffic weakened as Middle East-related disruptions affected routes and demand, while Delhi’s airport recorded growth.
- When
- The airport comparisons cover June and July year-on-year; domestic passenger data cited includes July and January through July 2026.
- Where
- India, particularly its six major metro airports: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Bengaluru.
- Why
- Middle East airspace restrictions forced longer routes, while uncertainty over overseas travel weakened demand and some international services were reduced or suspended.
- Airport trend
- Five of India’s six major metro airports recorded year-on-year declines in flight operations during June and July.
- Delhi performance
- Indira Gandhi International Airport operations rose 8% in June and 2.5% in July year-on-year.
- Largest declines
- Chennai fell 20% in June and 18.9% in July; Hyderabad declined by around 20% and nearly 19%, respectively.
- July domestic traffic
- Indian airlines carried about 12 million domestic passengers, down 4.8% from 12.6 million a year earlier.
- January-July traffic
- Domestic passenger traffic reached 98.4 million, compared with 97.78 million in the corresponding period of 2025.
- Cancellation rate
- Scheduled domestic flight cancellations stood at 0.62% in July; technical issues caused 39.9% of cancellations.
- Punctuality leader
- IndiGo recorded a 91.2% on-time performance at the 10 airports assessed by the DGCA.