14.6 lakh seats cut by Air India Group in June; metros worst affected

Air India Group has gone for one of the biggest network downsize in June with 14.63 lakh fewer seats compared to the last year as part of its operational restructuring amidst huge losses amount to Rs 28,500 crore in FY26.  

Air India, the second biggest airline with 12% market share, capacity contracted again by 27%m which is 10 lakh fewer seats, in June 26 compared to last year, according to the latest data by OAG, a global aviation data provider.

Air India Express (IX) also reduced capacity by 17% compared to June 25, which means 4.63 lakh fewer seats. Combined, the Air India group carriers operate 22% of capacity.

Tata group has asked the airline to reduce it losses and is looking at delaying deliveries of newer aircraft on order, cutting more flights and putting expansion plans on back burner.

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Which are the routes worst affected?

The capacity cut in seats is across metros — Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Delhi is the only destination where seats availability across airlines has seen an 8.9% growth in June 2026.

Delhi is India’s busiest airport for domestic flights with 2.8 million seats in June 26, an increase of 9% vs last year. Mumbai and Bengaluru airports are joint second busiest airports, with 1.7m seats each in June 26. The capacity cut is 7.7% in Mumbai and 6.4% in Bengaluru.

Domestic capacity continued to fall in Hyderabad again this month, by 19% vs last year.  Chennai also saw a big reduction with domestic capacity declining by 17%.

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Air India has downsized domestic network by 22% with fewer flights connecting metros.

How has international sector fared?  

United Arab Emirates remains the busiest international market from India, despite a 15% reduction in capacity to just under on 1 million seats. UAE routes still represent 27% of the market.

The next busiest international country, Thailand, reduced capacity by 10% to 2.6 lakh seats, 7% market share. Capacity reduced across Middle East destinations but also to Singapore, by 12% to 2.49 lakh seats.

The airlines have deployed the capacity to UK with 19% jump, adding to 2.13 lakh, making it the fifth busiest market.

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