On November 12, 2024, the Indian aviation industry will see a major shift with Vistara, a full-service airline jointly owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, merging with Air India, which is also owned by Tata. This merger, after two years of planning, will make Air India the only full-service airline in India, ending the era of multiple full-service carriers. This merger comes at a time when India’s aviation market is already growing rapidly.
A report by OAG revealed that in May 2024, India surpassed both Brazil and Indonesia securing its position as the third-largest domestic aviation market in the world. IndiGo and Air India are the leading players in India’s aviation market, collectively having more than 1,000 aircraft on order. Together, they control nearly 90 per cent of the country’s domestic seating capacity.
While the US and China still lead the global aviation markets, India’s rise highlights the rapid growth of the sector. India’s aviation industry has been expanding at an extraordinary pace with the number of domestic seats growing at an annual rate of 6.9 per cent making it the fastest-growing market in the world.
A key driver of this growth is the popularity of low-cost carriers, which make up 78.4 per cent of India’s domestic airline capacity, the highest among the world’s top five aviation markets. The Indian aviation industry has changed a lot in recent years.
In the past, full-service airlines were the main players offering things like lux.
