For the first time in years, AirAsia is no longer the largest airline between Malaysia and India. November 2026 schedule data from Cirium, the aviation data analytics company, shared exclusively for this article, shows Malaysia Airlines (MH) operating 78 weekly flights with 15,196 seats, against AirAsia’s (AK) 58 flights and 10,780 seats. A year ago, AirAsia led with 83 weekly flights, and with AirAsia X (D7) added, the group offered over 17,000 weekly seats.
The change at the top has not come from Malaysia Airlines growing. Malaysia Airlines is down marginally, by one weekly flight and 168 seats. It is AirAsia that has pulled back sharply, cutting 25 weekly flights and 4,802 seats, a 30.8% drop. It has exited Lucknow, Kozhikode, Amritsar and Jaipur, and reduced frequencies to Tiruchirappalli, Kochi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. AirAsia X has pulled out of Delhi, leaving the India market altogether.
The cuts come as AirAsia battles a cost shock. Jet fuel averaged USD 183 a barrel in the second quarter of 2026, up 66% on the previous quarter, and the airline posted a net loss of RM 831 million for the quarter. In September, reports that Malaysia’s government had asked Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air whether they could absorb AirAsia’s domestic share sent its shares down 21% in a day. Tony Fernandes has denied that AirAsia sought a bailout and says travel demand remains strong and the group would find a way out in this challenging environment.
A market built on diaspora and low fares
Malaysia and India share one of the deepest people-to-people links in Asian aviation. Malaysians of Indian origin, largely with roots in Tamil Nadu, make visiting friends and relatives traffic the backbone of this market. Malaysia Airlines anchored it for decades, linking Kuala Lumpur with the Indian metros and the southern cities where much of the demand originates.
AirAsia changed the market from the late 2000s. Its A320s opened secondary cities such as Tiruchirappalli and made Kuala Lumpur a cheap gateway for Indians heading to Southeast Asia and Australia. Over time it spread into tier-2 cities across the north, from Lucknow to Amritsar and Jaipur, while AirAsia X added longer flying from Delhi.
Competition kept building. Malindo Air, now Batik Air Malaysia, brought a hybrid product, while IndiGo and Air India added flights of their own. Malaysia’s visa-free entry for Indian nationals from December 2023 gave the market another push, and by November 2025 six airlines offered over 44,000 weekly seats, with AirAsia narrowly ahead.
Leadership by standing still
The market shrinks by 28 weekly flights (12.2%) and 6,170 weekly seats (14.0%). Within it, Malaysia Airlines’ share of frequencies rises from 34.3% to 38.6% and its share of seats from 34.9% to 40.1%, without adding a single flight. The AirAsia group, which held 37.8% of flights and 38.6% of seats a year ago, is down to 28.7% and 28.4%. This is leadership won by subtraction, not by expansion but shows how the market has changed. Air India is the only airline growing, taking Delhi–Kuala Lumpur from 8 to 14 weekly flights, but IndiGo has cut Bengaluru–Langkawi from daily to three weekly. Batik Air, despite reportedly telling the government it could expand to absorb AirAsia’s share, holds its 28 weekly flights where they were.
AirAsia’s exits are telling. Lucknow, Amritsar and Jaipur are long sectors from Kuala Lumpur with thinner VFR demand, exactly the flying that hurts most with fuel at record levels. That is why its ASMs fall faster (34.8%) than its seats (30.8%). The southern core of Tiruchirappalli, Kochi and Hyderabad stays, only thinner. The pressure is not only financial. Kuala Lumpur’s role as a gateway is being chipped away as non-stop flights from India to Vietnam take leisure traffic that once connected via Malaysia, and more direct flights to Australia bypass it altogether. Partnerships could shift flows further, with IndiGo and Malaysia Airlines on one side and Air India and Singapore Airlines, which deepen cooperation this month, on the other.
Network Thoughts
Being market leader in a shrinking market is a comfortable position for a full-service carrier. With 14% fewer seats on offer and demand that AirAsia itself describes as strong, load factors and yields should firm up across the board this winter. The traveller pays for it, though one doubts if it will recover the additional costs due to higher fuel.
The seats AirAsia gives up largely sit on Malaysia’s side of the bilateral, putting Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air first in line. Neither has moved for November. For cities under the ASEAN open skies agreement, AirAsia has no challenges or threat to lose seats under the quota. For the cities which AirAsia has vacated, it is unlikely that Indian carriers will start a service since AirAsia focused on these as spokes for its Kuala Lumpur hub.
For now Malaysia Airlines has an edge in a market in a way that it never had for last many years. With the IndiGo partnership, will it scale higher and make the most of it or will AirAsia claw back its earlier position? The answer may not be clear until we know how the oil prices react in next few months and the impact it has for medium term.
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