IndiGo — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021

IndiGo — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021

After our latest analysis concerning China Eastern Airlines, we continue the airline analysis series with India’s biggest low-cost carrier, IndiGo. We took a deep dive into one of Asia’s biggest airlines and checked flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked IndiGo’s flight performance against regional and global averages. And without telling too much: The results are surprising and somehow shocking! Here’s what’s contained in detail:

Flight Analysis
Monthly Flight Overview
Global & Asian Ranking By Number of Flights
Pre-COVID Benchmark

Flight Punctuality
Monthly Punctuality Overview
Global & Asia Ranking By Punctuality

Flight Cancellations
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Global & Asian Ranking By Cancellation Rate

IndiGo – Flight Analysis

Let’s kick off the analysis with details about IndiGo flights from February to June 2021. Then, we also provide information on the carrier’s share in Asia traffic on top of the overall numbers. Moreover, we compare the airline’s ranking to other Asian and global airlines. Finally, and as the icing on the cake, we set IndiGo’s flight performance in 2021 into relation to pre-COVID results from 2019 — and we can already promise some exciting results!

Monthly Flight Overview

IndiGo had an amazing and strong start in 2021 and operated more flights than most airlines. In February, the airline operated more than 34,000 flights. However, IndiGo even increased the numbers and added another 4,000 flights in March. Nonetheless, in April the impact of Corona on India has started to get worse. As a result, IndiGo’s number of flights fell by 8% to 35,400. But that was just the kick-off to a tremendous decline. Due to the devastating impact of Corona, IndiGo’s traffic sharply dropped by almost 45% in May. And even worse, the carrier lost another 10% of traffic in June. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how fast the airline can recover in the next months.

Month	No. Flights	vs. prev. Month
February	34,241
March	38,522	12.5%
April	35,460	8.0%
May	19,663	44.6%
June	17,669	10.2%
Avg. ’21	29,111

The charts below visualize IndiGo’s shocking development. The picture on the right side shows the number of flights and perfectly illustrates the strong growth in March and sharp decline thereafter. The chart on the left side illustrates IndiGo’s share concerning overall Asian flights. The share dropped from almost 10% in February to below 3% in June.

Domestic, Asian & Globa Ranking By Flight Volume

The table below shows IndiGo’s domestic, Asian, and global ranking by the number of flights. Let’s start with the positive aspects again. From February to April, IndiGo ranked as one of the world’s biggest airlines. In Asia, only the big Chinese airlines operated more flights. Moreover, from a global point of view, the big Chinese and U.S. carriers performed more flights. Nevertheless, IndiGo ranked on a fantastic 6/7th position. Logically, and due to the sharp decline in traffic volume, IndiGo lost several positions and ranked 7th (Asia) and 19th (global) in June.

Pre-COVID Benchmark

When comparing IndiGo’s flight volume to a pre-Covid level the results look entirely different to many other airlines (e. g. Lufthansa, Emirates, or KLM). In February and March, IndiGo was able to operate almost pre-COVID flight volume. On the contrary, in May and June, the Indian carrier was more than 50% down compared to the same months in 2019.

Month	Flights 2021	Flights 2019	’21 vs. ’19 (abs)	’21 vs. ’19 (%)
February	34,241	37,346	3,105	8.3%
March	38,522	41,762	3,240	7.8%
April	35,460	41,796	6,360	15.2%
May	19,663	43,511	23,848	54.9%
June	17,669	42,052	24,383	57.9%
Avg. ’21	29,111	41,293	12,169	28.8%

IndiGo – Flight Punctuality

In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at IndiGo’s flight punctuality. Again, we benchmark the Asian and global averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.

Monthly Puncutality Overview

You only need one sentence to summarize IndiGo’s results in terms of flight punctuality: May broke IndiGo’s neck. The Indian low-cost carrier showed an amazing on-time performance in February and March but also in June. However, the COVID-19-related turbulence in May forced the carrier to delay many flights, resulting in a relatively weak on-time performance. Nevertheless, the carrier still achieved a punctuality level that is much better than Asian and the global average. However, without devastating May results, IndiGo would certainly play in the top league.

IndiGo Flights — Domestic, Asian & Global Ranking By Punctuality

The below table perfectly illustrates IndiGo’s performance. From an Asian point of view, the carrier left the top 20 in May and declined more than 20 positions. However, IndiGo directly returned to the top 20 (10th) in June. Moreover, IndiGo ranks as the world’s 20th-punctual airline in June. Actually, that’s an impressive result after one of the most devastating months.

[rp4wp]

IndiGo – Flight Cancellations

In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.

Monthly Cancellation Overview

The number of flight cancellations speaks the same language as IndiGo’s on-time performance. The carrier performed very well in February and March. Unfortunately, the number of cancellations jumped to 5.2% in April before exploding to almost 20% in May.

IndiGo Flights — Domestic, Asian & Global Ranking by Cancellations

Used Data

The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 300 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 210 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.

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