Airline companies help people and the goods to travel from one place to another by air. Airlines (air services) provide these services and may sometimes form partnerships or alliances with other airlines so that they may run the airlines together. This is called a “codeshare agreement “. Airlines may be standard, chartered and cargo. The government aviation body regulates and provides a license to these airline companies. Now you can choose from so many different options available to fly to India and experience the joy of international and domestic air travel. Let’s talk about some of the top airlines operating in India.
1. Vistara
In 2013, Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines came together and formed the SIA Airlines Limited. Vistara has its office in Gurgaon and is a full-service Indian airline. By June 2016 Vistara had served around 20 lakh people. It had a share of 4% in the domestic market in the year 2019.
Vistara has a fleet of Airbus A320, Airbus A320 Neo, Boeing 787-9 and Boeing 787-800 NG planes that operate flights to 34 destinations out of which 4 are in the international locations.
HQ: Gurgaon.
Type: Complete Service
IATA Code – UK
ICAO Code – VTI.
2. Indigo
According to a list Indigo is the second best airline in India. Having its main office in Gurgaon in Haryana, it’s a low cost airline. Rakesh Gangwal, an Indian living in the U.S and Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises in 2006 started this airline as a private company.
It got its first plane in 2006 and began its services in the month of August. Indigo became the biggest airline in India based on its passenger market share. It’s the biggest airline according to the number of passengers it carries and its fleet size. It had a domestic market share of 55.5% in 2020. It’s also the seventh largest airline in Asia and has flights to 87 destinations. 63 of these destinations are in the United States and 24 are in other countries. It has the most number of flights from the Indira Gandhi International Airport New Delhi.
HQ: Gurgaon
Type: Low-Cost
IATA: 6E
ICAO: IGO
3. Air India
Air India has its main office in New Delhi and is the country’s national airline. In the year 1932, J. R. D. Tata started the Tata Airlines. After the Second World War, it became a public limited company and changed its name to Air India. It’s also the most significant airline in the country and has a total 18.6% of the market share.
The airline operates flights to 103 different places which include 45 cities in 31 different countries and to 58 cities in the United States. In July 2014, it became the 27th member of the Star Alliance. Most of the Air India flights leave from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport.
HQ- New Delhi
Type: Complete Service
IATA Code – AI
ICAO Code – AIC
4. Spicejet
Spicejet holds the number four position on the list of the Best Airlines in India. It’s a low cost airline and has its main office in Gurgaon, Haryana. In 1994, it started as an air taxi company which was called ModiLuft. Ajay Singh, an Indian businessman bought it in 2004 and changed the name to Spicejet.
It became the second-largest in India in 2019 in terms of the number of passengers it carries. Spicejet has a share of 13.6% in the market. It has a fleet of Boeing 737 and Bombardier Dash 8 planes. The airline runs an average 630 flights a day to 64 destinations. 52 of these are in India and 12 are in international locations. Most of these flights leave from Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
HQ: Gurgaon
Type: Low-Cost
IATA: SG
ICAO: SEJ
5. GoAir (GoFirst now)
GoAir secures the fifth spot on the list of the best airlines in India. In November 2005, Jeh Wadia, an Indian businessman, started the airline. Wadia group is the owner of the GoAir airlines. It started its business operations in the year 2005.
In 2019 it had a share of 9% in the market. GoAir has a fleet of Airbus A320 planes which are set up for all economies. GoAir has more than 325 flights per day to 38 destinations. 27 of these flights operate to the United States and 11 to other destinations. It has its hubs in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Kannur.
HQ – Mumbai
Type – Cheap
IATA Code – G8
ICAO Code – GOW.
6. AirAsia India
Air Asia India is a low-cost airline which is based in India. Having its main office in Bangalore, it’s the Tata Sons that run the airline. Tata Sons and AirAsia Berhad have a joint venture. Tata Sons owns the airline and has an 87% stake with AirAsia Investment Limited (Malaysia), which has 13% stake.
Its central hub is Bangalore and began its operations in the year 2014. AirAsia is India’s 4ht largest low-cost airline after IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir. In 2019, the airline had a 5% share in the market. It has a fleet of Airbus A320-200 planes which fly to more than 200 destinations across India every day.
HQ: Bangalore
Type: Low-Cost
IATA Code – I5
ICAO Code – IAD
7. Air India Express
Air India Express holds the seventh spot on the list of the best airlines in India. It is a low-cost airline in India and has its main office in Kochi, Kerala. It’s owned by India’s national airline Air India which runs the airline.
Air India Express operates about 649 flights in a week to 33 different locations. Some of the most important locations amongst these are in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It renders its services to around 4.3 million people every year. It has 25 Boeing 737-800 planes in its fleet.
HQ: Kochi, India.
It is a low-cost airline.
8. Alliance Air
Alliance Air is a subsidiary of Air India Airlines and is a regional airline in India. It was started in 1996. It mostly operates on the domestic routes under the Government’s Regional Connectivity Scheme, (UDAN Scheme).
Alliance Air flew to 64 destinations by March 2020. Having its hubs in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, and Mumbai, it provides regional airline services in the country. It has 18 ATR 72-600 planes and two ATR 42-320 planes in its fleet.
HQ: New Delhi.
Type – Regional
IATA Code – 9I
ICAO Code – AIC
9. TruJet
TruJet opened its operations in 2015 and is a regional airline in India. Founded in the year 2013, it’s a low-cost airline connecting the tier-2 cities from its hub that is the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.
TruJet carries flight operations to 27 domestic destinations in India. It has a fleet of 3 ATR 72-500 and 2 ATR 72-600.
HQ: Hyderabad.
Type: Regional
ICAO code: TRJ
IATA code: 2T
10. Star Air
Star Air started in 2017 as an Indian commuter airline. As part of the Indian Government’s UDAN scheme, it flew out of the Kempegowda International Airport in Bangalore, Karnataka, in January 2019.The airline offers flights within the state of Karnataka. It also serves the states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
The Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore is the central hub of Star Air and it flies to six cities in India. It has just two planes in its fleet which are the Embraer ERJ-145 planes. Each plane is a fifty seater plane.
HQ: Bangalore.
Type – Regional
IATA Code -OG
ICAO Code – SDG
These were some of the most significant and top airlines operating in India. We know millions of people now prefer to travel by air as it’s one of the safest modes of travel. Moreover it’s also the fastest way to travel to a desired destination which helps you save a lot of time.
In the coming time we are quite sure that there will be an even more rise in air transportation services globally. These are the major aviation companies that offer cheap flights to India all around the year to all the major destinations.
