IndiGo is India’s largest airline by fleet, with 432 aircraft as of 30 June 2026. Air India’s mainline fleet (excluding Air India Express) stood at 177 on 11 August 2026, with Air India Express separately running over 100. Akasa Air had 37 aircraft on 30 March 2026. Alliance Air and Star Air are much smaller regional operators, and SpiceJet’s operating fleet has shrunk sharply and inconsistently through 2026.
Updated October 2026 · HappyFares
Fleet counts move every month as aircraft are delivered, leased out, or grounded, so any number is only accurate as of the date it was published. Here is where each major Indian airline’s fleet actually stood, with the source and date behind every figure.
IndiGo: how big is India’s largest airline fleet?
IndiGo’s own Q1 FY27 earnings presentation, published 23 July 2026, put the airline’s fleet at 432 aircraft as of 30 June 2026, an increase of 16 aircraft over the same quarter a year earlier. That count includes a small number of dedicated freighters and damp-leased wide-bodies alongside the core A320neo, A321neo and ATR 72-600 narrow-body and turboprop fleet. IndiGo has also officially confirmed a firm order for 60 Airbus A350-900s in total, its first wide-body type, after doubling its original 30-aircraft order under a binding contract signed with Airbus on 17 October 2025; deliveries of that order had not been reflected in the June 2026 fleet count. For the full breakdown of IndiGo’s fleet by aircraft type, see our separate guide to how many aircraft IndiGo flies.
Air India and Air India Express: two fleets, two numbers
Air India’s own published fleet fact sheet, dated 11 August 2026, lists its mainline fleet, meaning Air India’s own-branded flights and explicitly excluding Air India Express, at 177 aircraft. That number has moved around during 2026 as older leased aircraft were returned and new Airbus and Boeing deliveries arrived; an earlier Air India fact sheet dated 18 June 2026 had put the same mainline count at 185. Air India Express, the group’s low-cost arm, is run and reported separately, and multiple 2026 reports describe its fleet as having passed 100 aircraft, though the exact current total varies by source and month, so treat any single precise figure for Air India Express with some caution.
Akasa Air: how fast has it grown?
Akasa Air’s own press release, dated 30 March 2026, announced that the airline’s fleet had reached 37 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, describing that as over 35 percent year-on-year growth. Akasa has also officially confirmed a firm order for 226 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in total, which it is drawing down steadily rather than all at once, so the in-service fleet will keep climbing from that March figure through the rest of 2026 and beyond.
SpiceJet: why is its fleet size so hard to pin down?
SpiceJet’s fleet has been unusually unstable through 2026 because of financial and lease disputes, and reputable reports from different months in the year disagree sharply on the operating total, some putting it in the dozens earlier in the year and others reporting it down to roughly 11 operating aircraft by September 2026 as wet-leased aircraft left the fleet. Rather than quote one of these as definitive, the honest summary is that SpiceJet’s active fleet has shrunk substantially over 2026 and the precise count at any given moment depends heavily on which lease and grounding disputes are live that month.
Alliance Air and Star Air: the smaller regional operators
Alliance Air, the regional arm connected to Air India, lists its own fleet on its website as 21 aircraft: 18 ATR 72-600s, 2 ATR 42-600s and 1 HAL Dornier Do-228, flying mainly into smaller tier-2 and tier-3 airports. Star Air operates a small, all-Embraer regional jet fleet of E145 and E175 aircraft; the airline’s own fleet page lists its aircraft types but does not publish a current total count, and third-party aviation trackers give varying figures for 2026, so this article does not quote a single precise number for Star Air.
Common Questions
Which Indian airline has the most aircraft in 2026?
IndiGo, with 432 aircraft as of 30 June 2026 according to its own quarterly earnings presentation.
Is Air India Express counted inside Air India’s fleet total?
No. Air India’s own fact sheets explicitly exclude Air India Express from the mainline fleet figure, and the two are reported separately.
Why do different sources give different numbers for the same airline?
Fleet size changes month to month as aircraft are delivered, leased in or out, or temporarily grounded, and different sources take their snapshot on different dates. Always check the “as of” date behind any fleet figure.
Does a bigger fleet mean more flights to choose from?
Generally yes, though it also depends on the airline’s route network and how many aircraft are actually flying on a given day rather than grounded or in maintenance.
Has SpiceJet stopped flying?
No, but its operating fleet has shrunk considerably during 2026 amid financial and lease difficulties, and the exact number of aircraft in service has varied sharply across the year.
Are any of these airlines adding wide-body aircraft for long-haul international flights?
IndiGo has officially ordered 60 Airbus A350-900s in total for future long-haul flying, after doubling its original firm order in October 2025. Air India already operates Boeing 787 and 777 wide-bodies as part of its mainline fleet.
Should I rely on a fleet number I saw on a travel blog rather than the airline’s own site?
Treat it carefully. Many third-party sites repeat older figures without an “as of” date, or blend an airline’s mainline count with its low-cost arm. Where this article could not find a dated, airline-published number, it has said so rather than repeating an unverified figure.
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Fleet sizes change frequently with deliveries, leases and groundings. The figures above reflect the dates shown; check each airline’s own current disclosures for the latest count.
