Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram made a case for competition in the aviation industry on Saturday — citing the ongoing IndiGo crisis. The domestic carrier holds the largest share of the market and operates several thousand aircraft on a daily basis. Its inability to implement new pilot duty-hour regulations and a crew shortage has triggered widespread chaos at airports over the past few days.
“Rahul Gandhi was spot on when he said that the monopoly/duopoly model is ill-suited for a developing country. Duopoly prevails in many sectors of the Indian economy; the airline industry is one. Liberalisation and open economy are based on competition. Absent competition, there will be baneful consequences as we are witnessing now in the airline industry. People must ponder over how a vibrant and competitive airline industry in India was reduced to a two-player business, and why,” he asked.
Turbulent week for Air India, IndiGo
It has been a turbulent week for Indian airlines — with thousands of passengers stranded by cancellations and delays. Both Air India and IndiGo had faced delays last weekend as Airbus announced a major A320 recall and sought immediate software updation for hundreds of planes. Then came a “third-party disruption” that hindered “check-in systems at various airports” and left Air India passengers scrambling amid flight delays. Meanwhile IndiGo has spent the past three days battling a crew shortage that forced more than a thousand flight cancellations.
IndiGo holds roughly 65% of the Indian aviation market while the Air India Group controls around 26%. Remaining airlines Data from May 2025 indicates that Akasa Air holds 5% while SpiceJet stands at roughly 3% market share.
Aviation Ministry steps in
The Ministry of Civil Aviation stepped in to address the crisis on Saturday — directing IndiGo to clear all pending passenger refunds without delay. The Ministry has mandated that the refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights must be fully completed by 8:00 PM on Sunday. It also instructed airlines not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were impacted by cancellations. The Ministry emphasised that any delay or non-compliance in processing refunds will invite immediate regulatory action under its powers.
