IndiGo Controls 64% of Aviation. We Are Not Customers, We Are Hostages.
IndiGo isn’t just an airline anymore. It’s infrastructure. It controls 64% of the Indian skies. That means nearly 2 out of every 3 people flying in India are sitting in an IndiGo seat.
That sounds like a business success story.
The concept of a monopoly seems abstract at first. But, the reality hits home once you realize that Indigo cancels flights with little accountability.
As a result, this situation perfectly illustrates what happens when a company becomes ‘Too Big to Fail.’
We just saw the trailer in December 2025.
The December Meltdown
IndiGo canceled thousands of flights. Passengers were stranded at airports for days. The entire network collapsed under the weight of “operational issues,” fog, and pilot shortages.
In a normal market, a company that fails its customers this badly gets punished.
Competitors steal their market share. Regulators fine them.
But this isn’t a normal market. Because IndiGo controls 64%, the government couldn’t afford to let them stay grounded.
If IndiGo stops, India stops.
The Government’s Response? Lower the Bar.
The crisis was partly triggered because of new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms. These are basically safety rules designed to stop pilots from flying while exhausted. IndiGo couldn’t manage its roster with these new safety rules.
They didn’t have enough pilots.
So, what did the government do? Did they force IndiGo to hire more pilots? Did they ground them until they were safe? No. They suspended the safety rules.
The DGCA relaxed the fatigue norms. They allowed pilots to do more night landings and cut back on mandatory rest periods.
Think about that logic.
The airline neglected to plan for safety regulations. So the government removed the regulations to keep the planes moving.
That’s not regulation. That’s a bailout. But instead of money, they paid with safety standards.
The “Duopoly” Trap
Why is the government so helpless? Because the option is worse.
If IndiGo fails, we are left with Air India (Tata Group) which holds roughly 26%.
Between IndiGo and the Tatas, they control 90%+ of the market. SpiceJet is fighting for survival. Akasa is too small to matter yet. This is the textbook definition of a Duopoly.
When two giants control the entire market, they don’t need to compete on price. They don’t need to compete on service.
They just need to exist.
You can hate the service.
You can hate the cold sandwich.
But you will still book the ticket. Because who else are you going to fly?
The “Common Man” is the Collateral Damage
We are seeing the same pattern in Telecom (Jio/Airtel) and now Aviation (IndiGo/Tata). The government is terrified of a monopoly, so they desperately prop up the duopoly.
- In Telecom, they are saving Vodafone Idea with tax money to prevent a Jio-Airtel duopoly.
- In Aviation, they are relaxing safety rules to keep the IndiGo-Tata duopoly functioning.
In both cases, the consumer loses. We pay higher prices.
As a business owner, you have to admire the moat IndiGo has built. They have become essential to the nation’s functioning. You aren’t a customer with a choice. You are a hostage with a boarding pass.
