Indira Gandhi Airport

Indira Gandhi International Airport is an airport located in the city of Delhi, India that serves as the international aviation hub of the Indian capital of New Delhi as well as the rest of northern India. The airport, spread over an area of 5,106 acres is situated in Palam, 15 km (9.3 mi) south-west of the New Delhi railway station and 16 km (9.9 mi) from New Delhi city centre. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, it is the busiest airport in India in terms of passenger traffic since 2009. It is also the busiest airport in the country in terms of cargo traffic, overtaking Mumbai during late 2015. In the calendar year 2018, it was the 12th busiest airport in the world and 6th busiest airport in Asia by passenger traffic handling nearly 70 million passengers. It is the world's busiest airport for Airbus A320 aircraft. The under construction expansion program will increase the airport's capacity to handle 100 million passengers by 2030.

The airport was operated by the Indian Air Force before its management was transferred to the Airports Authority of India. In May 2006, the management of the airport was passed over to Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a consortium led by the GMR Group. In September 2008, the airport inaugurated a 4,430 m (14,530 ft) runway. With the commencement of operations at Terminal 3 in 2010, it became India's and South Asia's largest aviation hub. The Terminal 3 building has a capacity to handle 34 million passengers annually and was the world's 8th largest passenger terminal upon completion. The airport uses an advanced system called Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) to help keep takeoffs and landings timely and predictable.

In 2010, IGIA was conferred the fourth best airport award in the world in the 15–25 million category, and Best Improved Airport in the Asia-Pacific Region by Airports Council International. The airport was rated as the Best airport in the world in the 25–40 million passengers category in 2015, by Airports Council International. Delhi Airport was awarded The Best Airport in Central Asia and Best Airport Staff in Central Asia at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2015. IGI also stood first in the new rankings for 2015 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards conducted by Airports Council International. The airport, along with Mumbai Airport was adjudged "World's Best Airport" at Airport Service Quality Awards 2017 in the highest category of airports handling more than 40 million passengers annually.

The other airport serving Delhi NCR is Hindon Airport which is much smaller in size and primarily handles regional flights out of the city under the government's UDAN. Safdarjung Airport is used mainly by VVIP helicopters and small charter helicopters due to its short runway. Jewar Airport is being planned to offset the load of Indira Gandhi International Airport. As of 2025, it is the ninth-busiest airport in the world.

Indigo

IndiGo is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, India. It is the largest airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a  65.2% domestic market share as of July 2025. It is the largest individual Asian airline, and one of the largest in the world in terms of passengers carried, with more than 100 million passengers carried in 2023. It has its primary hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi. As of June 2025, IndiGo operates over 2,200 daily flights to 127 destinations – 91 domestic and 36 international.

The airline was founded as a private company by Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises and Rakesh Gangwal in 2006. It took delivery of its first aircraft in July 2006 and commenced operations a month later. The airline became the largest Indian carrier by passenger market share in 2012. The company went public in November 2015.

IndiGo was founded in 2006 as a private company by Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises and Rakesh Gangwal. InterGlobe had a 51.12% stake in IndiGo and 47.88% was held by Gangwal's Virginia-based company Caelum Investments. IndiGo placed a firm order for 100 Airbus A320-200 aircraft in June 2005 with plans to begin operations in mid-2006. IndiGo took delivery of its first aircraft on 28 July 2006, nearly a year after placing the order. It commenced operations on 4 August 2006 with a service from New Delhi to Imphal via Guwahati. By the end of 2006, the airline had six aircraft, and nine more were acquired in 2007. In December 2010, IndiGo replaced state-run carrier Air India as the third largest airline in India, behind Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways with a passenger market share of 17.3%.

As of March 2020, IndiGo operates more than 1,500 daily flights to 87 destinations, 63 in India and 24 abroad. Its main base is located at Delhi, with additional bases at Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. In January 2011, IndiGo received a license to operate international flights after completing five years of operations. IndiGo's first international service was launched between New Delhi and Dubai on 1 September 2011.

In April 2024, IndiGo formally entered the wide-body space by placing an order of 30 A350-900s, with 70 options. The delivery of these aircraft will begin in 2027.

Spice jet

SpiceJet is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. As of May 2025, it is the fourth largest airline in India by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 4%[6] and connects 73 destinations, including 60 Indian and 13 international from its bases at Delhi and Hyderabad.

Established as air taxi provider ModiLuft in 1994, the company was acquired by Indian entrepreneur Ajay Singh in 2004 and re-christened as SpiceJet. The airline operated its first flight in May 2005. Indian media baron Kalanidhi Maran acquired a controlling stake in SpiceJet in June 2010 through Sun Group which was sold back to Ajay Singh in January 2015. The airline operates a fleet of Boeing 737 and Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft.

The origins of SpiceJet can be tracked back to March 1984 when the company was established by Indian industrialist S. K. Modi to provide private air taxi services. On 17 February 1993, the company was named as MG Express and entered into technical partnership with the German flag carrier Lufthansa. The airline provided passenger and cargo services under the name of Modiluft before ceasing operations in 1996.

2005–2013: Inception and expansion

In 2004, the company was acquired by Ajay Singh and the airline planned to restart operations as SpiceJet following the low-cost model. SpiceJet leased two Boeing 737-800 aircraft in 2005 and planned to order 10 new aircraft for expansion. SpiceJet opened bookings on 18 May 2005 and the first flight was operated between Delhi and Mumbai on 24 May 2005. By July 2008, it was India's third-largest low-cost carrier in terms of market share after Air Deccan and IndiGo. Indian media baron Kalanidhi Maran acquired 37.7% stake in SpiceJet in June 2010 through Sun Group. The airline ordered 30 Boeing 737-8 aircraft worth US$2.7 billion July 2010 and a further 15 Bombardier Q4 Dash short-haul aircraft worth US$446 million in December 2010.

In 2012, SpiceJet suffered a loss of over ?390 million (US$5.5 million) owing to increase in global crude prices. On 9 January 2012, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, reported that several airlines in India, including SpiceJet, have not maintained crucial data for the flight operations quality assurance. The Bombay Stock Exchange announced that ever since June 2011, SpiceJet had been suffering losses. In 2012, Kalanidhi Maran increased his stake in the airline by investing ?1 billion (US$14 million) in the airline. The airline returned to profits at the end of the same year. SpiceJet entered into an inter airline pact with Tigerair on 16 December 2013 which was scrapped in January 2015.

In January 2015, the Sun group sold its entire shareholding and transferred control to Ajay Singh. In late September 2017, the airline announced that it had placed a firm order for 25 Q400 turboprop aircraft. On 30 March 2020, HDFC Mutual Fund bought 3.4 crore shares of SpiceJet from the open market constituting 5.45% stake.