The busiest air route in India connecting the capital with financial capital will see an unprecedented 60 flights each way this December, as Air India adds another flight between the two cities. Coupled with flights to Hindon from Mumbai and to Navi Mumbai from Delhi, the connectivity between the two cities is even higher.
Here are the top 10 routes in India and which airline commands the respective markets
1.Delhi – Mumbai – Delhi
The Delhi – Mumbai – Delhi route has often made it to top 10 domestic routes in the world. However, with both airports being congested, especially Mumbai, the route often dropped from this list. It continues to be the top 10 route in India and is unlikely to give way to any other route even after the Delhi region sees three airports and Mumbai sees two.
2. Delhi – Bengaluru – Delhi
The second busiest route in the country by frequencies has higher capacity by ASK (Available Seat Kilometers) than the first route due to this route being longer.
3. Mumbai – Bengaluru – Mumbai
On the third spot is Mumbai – Bengaluru route making it a triangle of these three cities and three routes.
4. Delhi – Hyderabad – Delhi
On the fourth spot is Delhi – Hyderabad, connecting the two GMR run airports. Hyderabad has been growing rapidly over the last three years, crossing the 25 million mark as well.
5. Delhi – Kolkata – Delhi
The first in the list where an AAI run airport is involved, with the first four connecting private airports.
6. Delhi – Pune – Delhi
There are only two routes amongst the top 10, which connect a metro to a non metro, with Delhi – Pune being one of it. The rest of the eight routes connect amongst the six metros, viz Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.
7. Bengaluru – Hyderabad – Bengaluru
The short hop between the two southern powerhouses known for IT is seventh in the country.
8. Delhi – Ahmedabad – Delhi
This is second of two routes which involves one of the six non-metro’s, four airlines operate this route.
9. Mumbai – Chennai – Mumbai
The ninth most busiest route in the country sees four airlines operating.
10. Delhi – Chennai – Delhi
The longest route amongst the top 10 routes in India sees a duopoly between Air India and IndiGo.
Network Thoughts
The seasonal nature of some routes means that places like Srinagar see lower flights during the winter months, while flights more than double in Summers.
Seven out of 10 routes have a Delhi connection, while Mumbai has three (one to Delhi). Three routes sees five airlines in operation, two routes sees four, while four routes sees three airlines in operation and one route being a duopoly. IndiGo is the only airline to have presence on all 10 routes.
Found this article informative? Think of supporting Network Thoughts with Power of 10
Running this website incurs some cost, along with the data sourced for analytics. If you have liked this article, consider paying INR 10 via UPI. The site will continue to be free. This will help with the maintenance, upkeep and funding the research. You can also pay via Debit or Credit card by clicking on this link.
You can support Network Thoughts by ordering Network Thoughts baggage tags and lapel pins !
Follow NetworkThoughts on X (Formerly Twitter), Bsky, Facebook and YouTube.
Related
