18,746 Passengers Denied Boarding In 2024 In Indian Airlines, Air India Tops The List | Numberspeak

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Of the total 18,746 passengers who were denied boarding in 2024, 14,545 were from Air India alone

To reduce the possibility of flights departing with empty seats, airlines generally overbook flights to a limited extent, as per the DGCA. (PTI File for representation)

To reduce the possibility of flights departing with empty seats, airlines generally overbook flights to a limited extent, as per the DGCA. (PTI File for representation)

Numberspeak

A total of 18,746 passengers were denied boarding in the calendar year 2024 and more than 77% of these passengers were from Air India Group, official data analysed by News18 show. The data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that over 51 passengers were denied boarding everyday on average in 2024 and about 40 of these were denied by Air India and Air India Express.

As shown in the graph below, of the total 18,746 passengers who were denied boarding in 2024, 14,545 were from Air India alone. The situation did not improve in 2025 as of the total 3,171 passengers who were denied boarding in January, 2,959 were passengers of Air India and 178 from SpiceJet.

Every month, the Air India Group is spending several lakhs of rupees to provide facilities and compensation to passengers who were denied boarding, the data show. In January 2025, the company spent Rs 295 lakh for this as it offered alternative flights and accommodation, refreshments and meals to the passengers who were denied boarding.

November 2024 saw the highest number of passengers denied boarding. Of the 3,529 passengers who were denied boarding by Indian airlines, 3,335 were denied by Air India group. That month the group spent Rs 273 crore on facilitation and compensation.

In August, only 728 passengers were denied boarding – lowest for a month in 2024. A total of 547 of these passengers were from Air India.

In 2024, 1,613.31 lakh passengers were carried by domestic airlines during January –December period. In terms of market share, Indigo has the highest share followed by Air India and SpiceJet in 2024. Of the total, Indigo carried 62% of the total passengers in 2024, followed by Air India at 16.5% and SpiceJet at 3.7%. Vistara, which merged with Air India in November 2024, had a market share of 8.2%. AIX Connect had a market share of 3.8% in 2024 before it merged with Air India Express.

In January 2025, a total of 146.11 lakh passengers were carried by domestic airlines. Indigo’s share was at 65.2%, while that of Air India Group stood at 25.7%. Akasa Air carried 4.7% of the passengers.

THE RULES

To reduce the possibility of flights departing with empty seats, airlines generally overbook flights to a limited extent, as per the DGCA.

In case of overbooking on a particular flight, there may be circumstances on a particular day when more passengers report for the flight than the number of seats available.

“Under such conditions, the airline may deny boarding to you while you may be holding confirmed bookings for travel on the flight and reported for the flight well within the specified time ahead of the departure of the flight,” the rules reads.

It further said that if the passenger voluntarily vacates the seats, the airline, at its own discretion, will offer the benefits or facilities which it may wish to offer. However, if the passenger is denied boarding against the wish, airlines are liable to pay monetary compensation in accordance with the provisions of Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) Section 3, Series M, Part IV.

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