TTJ spoke with select airlines from Asia and the Middle East operating in the Indian market to assess how they navigated the complexities of 2025 and how they are positioning for 2026. Despite a challenging operating environment, these carriers continued to advance network expansion, fleet modernisation, strategic partnerships, and operational resilience. India has emerged as a pivotal growth engine, underpinning future connectivity, capacity deployment, and sustainable aviation growth.
The global aviation industry in 2025 unfolded amid significant contrasts, combining steady recovery in passenger demand with periods of acute operational disruption. In India, the tragic Air India crash and IndiGo’s major operational setback highlighted the growing fragility of complex airline systems during phases of rapid expansion and scale. Globally, carriers faced a convergence of technical, operational and geopolitical challenges, including Airbus’ late-November recall and mandatory software updates affecting thousands of A320-family aircraft following flight-control concerns. These issues were compounded by ongoing aircraft delivery delays and engine reliability inspections that constrained fleet availability, widespread weather-related disruptions across the United States and Europe, and airspace closures driven by geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan alongside continued instability across parts of the Middle East and Asia.
Despite these headwinds, demand remained resilient across most major markets, supported by strong leisure travel, recovering corporate demand and sustained outbound traffic from high-growth regions such as India. Airlines navigated rising fuel and operating costs, tighter regulatory compliance, labour shortages and aircraft delivery delays, even as they continued to expand networks, modernise fleets and deepen strategic partnerships. The year ultimately tested operational resilience, while simultaneously positioning carriers for stronger connectivity, financial discipline and sustainable growth in 2026.
IndiGo – A Landmark Year on the Path to Global Scale
A Landmark Year: IndiGo concluded 2025 as a landmark year in its journey towards becoming a truly global carrier. It continues to rank among the top 20 airlines globally, generating over USD 10 billion in annual revenue, reflecting its scale, efficiency, and sustained growth built over nearly two decades of operations.
Growth Momentum and Operational Learnings: While the year saw accelerated network expansion, the launch of long-haul service, consistent passenger growth, and international recognition, it also yielded important and critical operational learnings for IndiGo. The operating environment presented periods of industry-wide challenges this year, including IndiGo’s major operational disruption (December 3 to 5, 2025), which regrettably impacted the airline’s valued customers for which IndiGo has profusely apologised. The airline rapidly restored its network and operations to normal and continues to focus on further strengthening its operational processes and resilience.
Long-Haul Expansion: 2025 was a landmark year for IndiGo and Indian aviation, highlighted by the airline hosting the IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Delhi. In line with its internationalisation strategy, IndiGo launched 10 new international destinations and 30 new international routes during the year. The commencement of long-haul operations, enabled by the induction of wide-body Boeing 787-9 aircraft in partnership with Norse Atlantic Airways, marked an important milestone in IndiGo’s growth journey.
Expanding Global and Domestic Reach: IndiGo further expanded its global footprint by adding destinations such as Seychelles, Krabi, Madinah, Fujairah, and Siem Reap. The airline also led the restart of direct flights between India and China by resuming services to Guangzhou from Kolkata and launching flights from Delhi. While international growth accelerated, the domestic market remained core to IndiGo’s network strategy. By year-end, IndiGo’s network had expanded to 139 destinations, comprising 97 domestic and 42 international. The airline also signed and strengthened codeshare partnerships with leading international carriers, unlocking seamless connectivity across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Executing the Strategy: Having earlier laid the building blocks of our strategy, Towards New Heights and Across New Frontiers, the year 2025 witnessed IndiGo taking big strides in the execution of our strategy and advancing to the next phase to become a major airline of global scale. We have progressed on all fronts: customers, product, domestic and international network, cargo, MRO, India’s hub function, etc., and we have managed to grow from strength to strength under the guidance of the government. A big thank you to our customers for choosing IndiGo, and all my 65,000 colleagues for their relentless efforts and dedication to our customers.
As we step into the New Year, there is an opportunity to reflect on the story so far, take stock of our progress, and learn from the operational challenges we have encountered. This is the point in our journey where our renewed focus will drive further scale, innovation, and impact across new frontiers, keeping our customers at the heart of everything.
Oman Air – Entering New Phase of Global Connectivity
Strong Demand from India in 2025: The year was excellent, with Oman Air realigning its global network to strengthen operations on many routes and launch new ones as the year progressed. We saw strong demand from India, which motivated us to increase frequencies on several routes, including Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow, while maintaining our strong presence across our 10 Indian stations. Leisure, MICE, weddings, and stopover traffic from India to Oman also grew considerably during 2025, and we expect this trend to continue in 2026.
Fleet Growth and Alliances: We added more B787 Dreamliners and B737 aircraft to our fleet during 2025, but our largest ever expansion came in the form of joining the oneworld Alliance in June 2025. As an oneworld member, we instantly expanded our reach to over 900 destinations, with 700-plus lounges worldwide and seamless travel across the Alliance’s 15 partner airlines. 2025 also saw significant growth in our direct network with the launch of Amsterdam in July, Baghdad and Copenhagen in December, year-round Moscow and Zurich flights, and an increase in our London service from 7 to 11 flights per week.
Strategic Transformation Underway: Oman Air’s leadership is restructuring the airline with a key focus on improving competitiveness and financial sustainability, promoting Oman as a destination, and increasing point-to-point passenger numbers. The strategic measures implemented from mid-2024 are showing encouraging results, which will become evident when the 2025 results are announced shortly. The transformation will continue through 2026, building Oman Air into a lean, efficient, and profitable organisation. NDC has been a key contributor to our success in India, accounting for more than 60 per cent of sales coming through this channel.
Strengthening India–Oman Connectivity: Oman Air will continue to promote the Sultanate of Oman, which holds significant potential in the Indian market, in close coordination with Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism. India remains a large and vital market for Oman Air, given our strong operational presence, and we are committed to further expanding capacity and connectivity to grow traffic between India and Oman, as well as across our wider global network.
Positive Demand Signals for 2026: Airlines forecast trends based mainly on the forward bookings, and the Indian market looks extremely promising. As of now, bookings from our guests and travel partners are much higher than in 2025, marking a truly encouraging and promising start to 2026. Looking forward to a super successful 2026.
Korean Air – Advancing Toward Integrated Global Growth
Strong Growth in India: In 2025, Korean Air recorded robust growth in the Indian market. As of November 2025 (YTD), our capacity increased by 12 per cent, and passenger traffic rose by 14 per cent year-on-year. A key highlight was the expansion of our Delhi service. For the Winter 2025 season (October-March), we increased the frequency to five weekly flights from three. We also deployed our Boeing 787-9 fleet on this route, upgrading from the previous Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330 aircraft to significantly enhance the travel experience.
Integration and Brand Renewal: Our defining milestone for 2025 was the rigorous preparation for our integration with Asiana Airlines. We focused on revitalising our brand identity and premium service infrastructure. This included the unveiling of our new Corporate Identity (CI) in March and the comprehensive renewal of our lounge at Incheon International Airport in August, ensuring a differentiated and seamless experience for our premium customers.
2026 Strategic Priorities: Our priority for 2026 is the successful completion of the integration to launch as a top-tier global carrier. For the Indian market, we are strategically positioning Incheon as a hub for traffic connecting India with Northeast Asia and North America. We plan to gradually expand capacity on our India network to meet this growing transfer demand and to leverage the combined network strength of the integrated airline.
SriLankan Airlines – Reinforcing Regional Connectivity
Sustained Growth in the Indian Market: In 2025, SriLankan Airlines delivered a strong overall performance in the Indian market, supported by assured passenger traffic growth and improved load factors. Passenger numbers increased over the previous year, particularly during the April to October period, reflecting resilient demand and effective commercial initiatives. Load factors improved as higher traffic volumes were complemented by network planning and pricing strategies. Despite temporary constraints, the airline expanded flight activity and block hours, sustaining network presence and growth.
Network Growth and Fleet Renewal: Throughout 2025, our focus remained on expanding connectivity and elevating the travel experience. We increased frequencies to key destinations such as Singapore, Bangkok, and Dubai, and reinstated an extra weekend flight to London during the winter season to capture growing demand. A major highlight on the fleet front was the induction of our first wide-body aircraft in eight years, an Airbus A330-200, marking the start of a planned expansion over the coming years. To complement these developments, we introduced upgraded menus and enhanced onboard products, alongside digital solutions like the Yaana chatbot to simplify customer interactions.
Optimising Capacity and Revenue: In 2025, SriLankan Airlines faced the challenge of managing surging demand on key routes and evolving traveller preferences across leisure, business, and MICE segments. Maintaining operations and campaigns, as well as high-impact roadshows, further reinforced the airline’s presence, while targeted initiatives for emerging travel segments, including weddings and events, enhanced yield opportunities. Strategic partnerships with trade partners, Online Travel Agencies, and industry stakeholders helped strengthen distribution reach and capture demand.
Growth Priorities for 2026: In 2026, SriLankan Airlines aims to expand its network and increase capacity on high-demand routes to ensure efficient service and connectivity. The airline plans to strengthen its presence in key markets, especially India, while exploring new opportunities beyond to capture growing leisure and business travel demand. The focus will be on optimising flight frequencies, improving yields through targeted commercial initiatives, and building strategic partnerships to enhance market reach and customer experience.
Positioned for Future Growth: India is expected to remain a key growth market, driven by rising outbound travel and strong demand for business and leisure travel. For SriLankan Airlines, this presents an opportunity to strengthen its connectivity, enhance customer experience, and capture a larger share of regional traffic. By leveraging strategic partnerships, optimised networks, and targeted commercial initiatives, the airline aims to reinforce its brand as a trusted and preferred carrier, playing a prominent role in linking South Asia to global destinations and supporting sustainable growth in the aviation sector.
Air Astana – Building Connectivity Between India and Central Asia
Strengthening Presence in India: 2025 was an exciting and overall successful year for Air Astana in the Indian market, shaped by both growth opportunities and operational challenges. Building on more than 20 years of service to India via Delhi, the airline launched a new destination from Mumbai on April 20, further strengthening connectivity between India, Almaty, and onward destinations across Central Asia and the Caucasus. Despite a challenging operating environment, passenger demand remained healthy, and load factors were stable, reflecting the market’s resilience. The recently signed codeshare agreement with Air India significantly enhanced network reach, enabling passengers across India to travel seamlessly to Almaty and beyond via both Delhi and Mumbai.
Network, Partnerships and Fleet: In 2025, Air Astana marked a year of strategic development across its network, partnerships, and fleet programme. As the flag carrier and leading airline of Kazakhstan, the company continued to strengthen its role as a key aviation hub connecting Central Asia and the Caucasus with major global markets.
One of the year’s most important developments was the expansion of Air Astana’s codeshare partnerships. In addition to Air India, the airline also expanded cooperation with Chinese carriers through a codeshare agreement with China Southern Airlines, significantly enhancing access to multiple destinations in China.
Fleet development remained a central pillar of Air Astana’s long-term strategy in 2025. The airline continued to advance its fleet renewal programme, including major orders for new-generation Airbus A320neo family aircraft. At the same time, Air Astana further advanced its widebody strategy with the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner programme, laying the foundation for future long-haul growth and expanded intercontinental services.
Managing Industry Headwinds: Like many airlines globally, Air Astana operated in a challenging environment during the year, shaped by geopolitical uncertainties, evolving airspace restrictions, and continued cost pressures across the industry. To maintain operational and financial resilience, the airline adopted a disciplined, flexible approach, focusing on capacity optimisation, cost control, and close coordination across operational teams. Air Astana also leveraged its diversified network and strong market positions in Central Asia and the Caucasus, enabling it to balance demand across different regions. At the same time, continued investment in fleet efficiency and partnerships helped mitigate external pressures while ensuring service reliability and a stable customer offering.
Disciplined Expansion Strategy for 2026: Looking ahead, Air Astana’s strategic priorities remain focused on disciplined growth, network optimisation, and strengthening its position in key international markets. India will continue to be a strategic focus, with plans to further enhance capacity and schedule connectivity across existing gateways, reflecting the market’s growing importance for both business and leisure travel. Across all markets, the focus for 2026 will remain on maintaining a strong full-service value proposition, supported by prudent capacity planning, a modern and fuel-efficient fleet, and a long-term, sustainable approach to growth.
Positioned for Future Growth: As a leading airline of Kazakhstan with a strong presence across Central Asia and the Caucasus, Air Astana aims to continue evolving as a reliable and high-quality full-service carrier. By leveraging its geographic position, modern fleet, and growing network of partnerships, the airline will further strengthen its role as a trusted bridge between emerging and established markets in the global aviation ecosystem.
