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High airfares, MidEast war drag India's air traffic; Mumbai airport down 6.2% in March
Other busy airports in India, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and Goa also saw declines in international and domestic passenger traffic in March 2026
- PUBLISHED: Thu 28 May 2026, 12:46 PM
The US-Israel-Iran war has resulted in a significant fall in both international and domestic traffic at Mumbai airport, according to Airports Authority of India (AAI) data.
Higher airfares and flight disruptions caused by the war have led to a sharp fall in international traffic, which plunged by 9.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 1.15 million passengers in March.
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Mumbai airport handled a total of 4.34 million passengers in March 2026, a 6.2 per cent fall from March 2025 figures. Domestic passenger traffic declined by 4.8 per cent to 3.19 million during the month.
There were 1,035 flight cancellations from Mumbai to the Gulf between February 28 and March 11, 2026, according to the report. International aircraft movements fell 16.9 per cent YoY to 6,228 in March 2026. However, Mumbai’s annual international passenger traffic rose 4.6 per cent to 16.3 million for financial year ending March 31, 2026.
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Other busy airports in India including Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and Goa also saw declines in international passenger traffic during March 2026.
GMR Airports, which operates airports in Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa, reported a 3.7 per cent decline in domestic traffic to 7.6 million passengers in April, while international traffic fell by 8.9 per cent to 2.3 million passengers.
Delhi airport handled 6.7 million passengers in April, down 0.3 per cent YoY, and Hyderabad handled 2.3 million passengers, a 15.1 per cent YoY decline.
But for the year ending March 2026, its airports handled 121.6 million passengers, the highest handled by it. Domestic passenger traffic touched 92 million, while international passenger traffic saw a 1.7 per cent YoY growth to 30 million.
The sharp spurt in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices for international flights saw the country’s two largest carriers, Air India and IndiGo raise fuel surcharges on international fares.
Air India also suspended some international operations because of steep hike in ATF prices and airspace restrictions. It is also reducing domestic flights from June, along with IndiGo because of the surge in fuel prices.
Air India will be slashing 22 per cent of its domestic flights between June and August 2026, while IndiGo plans to reduce it by five to seven per cent. It is also cutting its international capacity by 17 per cent.
Air India, AI Express and IndiGo are pulling out a total of 250 daily domestic flights during the three-month period because of spiralling jet fuel prices and weakening Indian rupee.
