Number of Indian aircraft in service 2023, by airline

IndiGo, the scheduled airline operator, had the highest number of aircraft in India with about 304 aircraft as of March 2023. Following IndiGo, Air India had 118 aircraft in the same period. IndiGo was a low-cost private airline operator, whereas Air India was previously a state-owned enterprise and later was sold to Tata Group. 

Aviation industry scenario

The civil aviation industry in India was one of the quickest growing industries in India. India, with its vast size and large population, was the third-largest domestic aviation market in the world. An increase in the number of passengers led to a rise in aircraft usage, which could be seen by the number of domestic departures by private Indian airlines and national airlines. By 2024, it was expected that India would become the third-largest market in terms of passengers, overtaking the United Kingdom. In the financial year 2019, over 28 million people flew with Indian national airlines, and over 7 million people flew in and out with private Indian scheduled carriers. The aviation industry added approximately 72 billion U.S dollars to the Indian gross domestic product. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) headquartered in New Delhi, India was about to have its largest fleet by its scheduled airlines in December 2019. The eight domestic carriers added 145 aircraft to their fleet in the year 2019.

IndiGo airlines

IndiGo had the highest market share in the industry as of March 2020. It added 53 aircraft in 2019 and 60 in 2018. There was a constant increase in the number of passengers transported by IndiGo airlines over the period beginning since April 2015. IndiGo went international in 2011, five years after it started its domestic operations. As of March 2020, with 261 aircraft under its wings, IndiGo flew to 24 international and 63 domestic destinations.