NEW DELHI: The US-Iran war’s debilitating impact on international air travel globally has, from an Indian perspective, hit desi carriers harder than foreign ones in the first full April-June quarter of this conflict that started on Feb 28. While people flying in and out of India fell 10.5% from 1.9 crore in this traditionally peak summer travel quarter to 1.7 crore, Indian carriers’ saw a sharp 26% decline in their international carriage (see graphic) even as foreign players registered a 7% increase, according to DGCA data issued Thursday.Dubai-based mega carrier Emirates benefitted from UAE severely limiting foreign airlines’ flights for a prolonged period in that quarter and saw its carriage to and from India increase 7% to 14.8 lakh from 13.8 lakh in the same period last year. Neighbouring Abu Dhabi-based Etihad’s India carriage declined only by 1,939 passengers from last April-June’s figure of about 8.5 lakh.The conflict was yet another blow to struggling Indian carriers that have been reeling under the impact of Pakistan airspace closure for them since last April which has impacted their flights between north India, with Delhi the biggest hub for Air India and IndiGo, and the west.
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Air India Group (AI and AI Express) saw its international carriage drop 36% to 27.6 lakh this April-June from 43.3 lakh in the same period last year. To be sure, AI has also been cutting overseas flights since last June’s Ahmedabad crash. IndiGo saw its international carriage drop 15% to 33.4 lakh from 39.5 lakh in April-June 2025.On the other hand with no Pakistan hurdle and spare capacity as their West Asia operations have been curtailed by the war, some Western carriers led by Lufthansa, SWISS and British Airways have increased their India flights. As a result, Lufthansa flew 3.7 lakh passengers in and out of India this April-June, as opposed to 3.5 lakh a year ago. British Airways, which added flights after Lufthansa, managed to avoid a big decline in India carriage by flying over 2.9 lakh people as opposed to about 3.1 lakh in April-June 2025.“Pakistan airspace has been closed for 14 months and vice versa. A diplomatic solution has to be found and the situation can’t continue like this to the detriment of Indian carriers. If we can play cricket with Pakistan, surely there can be a resolution to this issue too,” said a senior official of an Indian carrier.
