According to data compiled by OAG, an aviation analytics company, India is now the third-largest domestic market in the world, just behind the US and China. Indeed, in ten years, domestic airline capacity in India rose from 7.9 million seats in April 2014 to 15.5 million in April 2024. This rise has helped India overtake Brazil and Indonesia from fifth position to the third position globally.
India has replaced Brazil, which now occupies the fourth spot with 9.7 million airline seats, and Indonesia with 9.2 million seats at fifth. That India could do so because it posted the highest annual average capacity growth rate of 6.9 percent among the top five countries during this period. This was followed by a growth rate of 6.3 percent in China and 2.4 percent in the case of the US during the same period.
At the forefront of India's aviation boom are large carriers such as IndiGo and state-owned Air India, which have a combined 90 percent share in the domestic market and more than 1,000 planes on order. Noticeably, as of April 2024, LCCs would represent 78.4 percent of domestic capacity. To be sure, this growth pace of LCCs in these top-five aviation markets is the steepest: above Indonesia's 68.4 percent, Brazil's 62.4 percent, the US's 36.7 percent, and China's 13.2 percent.
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