Airlines find themselves in a squeeze

IT’S BEEN A turbulent year for India’s airlines. After a tumultuous 2025 — following the Air India crash and the IndiGo disruptions — it was expected that the new year would finally offer a breather for India’s airlines. Instead, the first four months of 2026 have proved otherwise, with the Indian airlines having had to significantly cut international operations due to the war in West Asia, alongside bearing the brunt of rising fuel prices.

Now, on April 27, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), an industry body representing Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet, which together account for more than 90% of the domestic market, has written to the Centre seeking urgent intervention. “The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and is on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations,” reads the letter addressed to the civil aviation secretary. “The dire condition of the aviation sector has been exacerbated by the West Asia war and the exorbitant increase in the price of ATF (aviation turbine fuel).” Fuel prices account for about 40% of operational costs for airlines. The rising prices, hence, have created a severe imbalance between domestic and international operations, rendering airline networks unviable and unsustainable.