StatsGuru: A trinity of turbulence - Airbus, IndiGo and glitches

Recent Airbus A320 groundings and IndiGo flight disruptions have put India's fast-growing aviation sector under the spotlight, raising questions over fleet reliability and safety oversight

Two recent major incidents — the temporary grounding of nearly 6,000 Airbus A320 aircraft worldwide and widespread IndiGo cancellations in India — have brought the aviation sector under scrutiny. Globally, there are about 35,550 commercial aircraft, with India accounting for 3 per cent. Airbus operates around 12,000 aircraft worldwide, 5 per cent of them in India. Of the 544 Airbus planes registered in India, IndiGo controls 65 per cent. Recurring glitches lately have raised concerns about their reliability in Indian skies. 

India’s scheduled commercial fleet size almost doubled from 448 in 2015-16 to 848 in 2024-25. Over the same period,