Recently, Air India announced two MoUs, one each with equity partner Singapore Airlines group and one with Lufthansa group with which it has had close co-operation for years even pre-privatisation. The Lufthansa and Air India MoU talks about “Commercial cooperation framework to boost connectivity and more consistent travel experiences between India and Europe”, while the Singapore Airlines and Air India MoU is also a commercial cooperation framework.

Air India today announced it will deploy aircraft featuring new, retrofitted or upgraded cabin interiors on additional, key international routes as part of its Northern Summer Schedule 2026, thus adding capacity and boosting connectivity on select long-haul routes. The changes are indicative of the premium Air India sees in its routes and much in line with the predictions made on this website in the past, especially related to equipment changes to London Heathrow.

IndiGo had an impeccable record of not closing a station for over 18 long years, nearly similar to not having operational meltdowns. Both have now been challenged. While it faced operational blip pre-COVID, the station closures were never a reality until it announced the closure of Copenhagen, which it launched last year in October. Copenhagen now joins Chengdu and Yangon as IndiGo’s cancelled destinations.

One often wonders if the online “Boycott” calls and hashtags have any effect on the ground or just vanish in thin air. Indian visitors to Turkey were down 25% in 2025, data released by the Turkish tourism ministry. This comes as an aftermath of Operation Sindoor when Turkish military equipment helped Pakistan and repeated push from Turkey to toe Pakistan’s line on Kashmir.

IndiGo crosses 100 million domestic passengers mark for the first time 2025 impacted by external shocks Domestic traffic in India grew by 3.8% in 2025, shows data released by regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The growth was muted due to various challenges faced by the industry starting April, with the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Operation Sindoor, crash of AI 171 and IndiGo’s operational meltdown.

IndiGo, India’s largest carrier by fleet and domestic market share, had announced its big bang expansion plan for the current financial year. India was recovering from the traffic slump following the Pahalgam terrorist attack and Operation Sindoor; the IATA AGM Was being held in Delhi after 40 years and IndiGo took that opportunity to make some major announcements, which included conversion of 30 options to firm orders for the A350 and a major network expansion.

Mumbai headquartered Akasa Air inducted its tenth high density MAX 8-200, which is its 33rd aircraft in the fleet. The airline will launch its thrice weekly service connecting Bagdogra and Dibrugarh starting tomorrow. This will be an extension of Bengaluru – Bagdogra flight offering a one-stop Bengaluru – Dibrugarh connection. Dibrugarh is 26th domestic destination, with the airline having five international destinations .

Completely new cabin interiors styled exclusively for Air India Headphone pairing capability via Bluetooth available in seats across all cabins Introducing wireless charging pads and more in Business Class suites New onboard mood lighting inspired by ancient Indian wellness traditions  Air India today unveiled the custom-styled cabin interiors of its first line-fit (made-for-Air India) Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Bearing registration mark VT-AWA, the new aircraft features completely new cabin interiors, designed especially for Air India and installed directly on Boeing's production line. 

Four years after Tata Group took over Air India on January 27, 2022, the airline has made substantial strides in its turnaround but the central theme to everything continues to be “delays”. Today marks four years since the Tata group welcomes Air India as homecoming. In the middle of the pandemic and before things returned to normalcy, Tata group which then was running two different airlines, Vistara with Singapore Airlines and AirAsia India with AirAsia Bhd, decided to bid for Air India and won the bid.

IndiGo declared its Q3-FY26 results on January 22, 2026. The airline reported a profit of INR 549.8 crore, in a quarter which saw an operational meltdown in December. Sequentially it is a swing from a loss to profit, but a drop of 78% in profit after tax on a year on year basis. Last quarter (Q2-FY26), the airline had to bear the forex loss of INR 2892.1 crore, while in the quarter for which the results were declared (Q3-FY26), the airline saw a forex loss of INR 1113.4 crore.

IndiGo, which faced an operational meltdown in December last year, reported a profit of INR 549.8 crores in Q3-FY26. The profit, despite the meltdown, could have been higher with the airline categorising INR 1546.5 crore as exceptional costs, which includes costs related to operational disruption as well as the changed labor codes. The foreign exchange loss stood at INR 1113.4 crore.

Operational meltdown the highlight of the quarter December traffic data not yet published by the regulator IndiGo, India’s largest carrier, will announce its Q3-FY26 results on Thursday, January 22, 2026. The quarter, typically the strongest of the four, saw IndiGo face an operational meltdown in the early months which led to the airline coming to a standstill, facing regulatory enquiries, passenger ire and government intervention.

Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), Delhi, India’s largest and busiest airport, closed 2025 with 78 million passengers, just 0.4% more than the previous year. It clocked 78,148,081 passengers in 2025, data released by Groupe ADP, which had a stake in GMR Aviation, the airport focused company of the GMR group. This traffic is 14% more than pre-COVID times. The flattish numbers were a combination of issues, starting with a runway closure which had to be halted mid-way in the first part of 2025 and restarted later, followed by Operation Sindoor when airports in North India were closed for a few days and tourism to Jammu and Kashmir took a hit.

Air India, which recently took delivery of a brand new 787-9 Dreamliner, will deploy the aircraft to Frankfurt from Mumbai, starting February 01, 2026. The airline will operate this route five times a week. AI2027 BOM1235 - 1730FRA AI2028 FRA2020 - 0900(+1)BOM Flights operate on all days except Tuesdays and Fridays. “Placeholder” When the aircraft was due for delivery, I did a check of its network to predict where the aircraft would be deployed and zeroed in on Mumbai - Frankfurt.

IndiGo will deploy the first XLR to Athens Confirms there are 40 on order, will receive nine this year Will replace the damp leased 777s to Istanbul India’s first and only A321XLR landed in Delhi this afternoon, turning a new chapter for IndiGo as it inducts the longest available range in the narrowbody segment available in the world. The airline will deploy the aircraft to Athens from both Delhi and Mumbai with thrice a week service starting January 23, 2026.

As Air India remains on the verge of letting go of the last B77L in its fleet, it is a perfect time to see the history of B777-200 / 200LR with Air India over the last two decades. In January 2006, government owned Air India announced an order for 68 Boeing aircraft comprising 8 B777-200LR, 15 B777-300ER, 27 787-8 Dreamliners and 18 B737-800s.

IndiGo, India’s largest carrier by fleet and market capitalization, is shrinking its turboprop network rapidly this month and beyond. Early this month, Twitter user AviationAll_ posted a thread on the reduced ATR operations of IndiGo, which can be found at this link. I decided to investigate further on what changes the airline is doing and if possible convert the schedule to rotations to understand how many aircraft the airline plans to fly in February.

Highest-ever single-day passenger traffic of 1,75,925 recorded on 29 November 2025 Top international destinations: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London Heathrow and Singapore Top domestic destinations: Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad New routes added during the year included Almaty, Amman, Manchester, Bali (Denpasar), Copenhagen, Krabi, Tbilisi and Fujairah Closing calendar year 2025 on a strong note, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) recorded an overall passenger traffic of around 55.5 million in CY25, marking a steady year of growth alongside multiple operational milestones.

Just before Diwali, IndiGo announced flights to Athens from both Delhi and Mumbai, with thrice weekly services from each city. This was a sure indication that the XLR would be inducted before January 23, 2026. The flight departed from Airbus facility in Hamburg on January 06, 2026 and landed in Delhi with a stop in Abu Dhabi today. The talk of the town obviously being the need of the stop for the XLR.

Landed in India on December 29, 2025 Started commercial operations to Bhubaneshwar from Delhi, operating IX1061 Air India Express, the fully owned subsidiary of Air India, has started commercial operations with its 51st MAX, which is also the first line fit 737-8 MAX aircraft for the airline. Air India Express took delivery of VT-RNT on December 29, 2025. This is the first of the 140 custom-configured Boeing aircraft.

Airlines may continue to crib about slots at London Heathrow and how hard they are to come by, but capacity between UK and India in general and London Heathrow and India in particular has grown in double digits over the last one year. February 2026 will see 160 weekly departures between India and London Heathrow, which is 21 more than last year, an addition of three services a day on an average.

The Delhi – Mumbai sector has made it to the top 10 routes worldwide for another year. As we turn the calendar from 2025 to 2026, here is a look at the top 10 routes in India this January 2026. The Delhi - Mumbai - Delhi route remains the top route in the country by a distance compared to the second busiest which is Delhi - Bengaluru - Delhi.

Yesterday, IndiGo launched flights to Rewa in Madhya Pradesh, with daily services from Indore. The airline is operating the ATR 72-600 aircraft on this route. My mind went back over a decade ago when the airline launched flights to Chandigarh. It launched Chandigarh with thrice daily flights from Mumbai, with each extending to Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai giving a seamless one-stop same aircraft connection.

Air India is withdrawing its Bengaluru - San Francisco and Mumbai - San Francisco services starting March 2026. There has been a lot of speculation around why the Bengaluru - San Francisco and Mumbai - San Francisco routes are being discontinued by Air India. This is the longest route from Bengaluru and the only non-stop to Americas and thus people are up in arms on social media against the move by Air India.