India is set to get three new airlines, with Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu confirming that Shankh Air, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress have all received NOCs, one of the many regulatory boxes to tick to eventually start flying.
The civil aviation ministry seems to be building on the words of Kinjarapu after the minister called for more airlines to cut the duopoly in the country's aviation sector. After the recent IndiGo crisis in the first few weeks of December, the ministry had cut IndiGo's winter schedule services by 10 per cent and ordered the airline to expedite the disbursal of refunds and delivery of baggage to passengers.
On December 9, the union minister went on the floor of the Lok Sabha to announce, "No airline, however large, will be permitted to cause such hardship to passengers through planning failures, non-compliance..."
Will these new airlines help break the tight duopoly of IndiGo and Air India?
In a recent post on X, the minister said Shankh Air had already received a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the aviation ministry earlier, while Al Hind Air and FlyExpress were granted their NOCs over the past week.
Over the last one week, pleased to have met teams from new airlines aspiring to take wings in Indian skies—Shankh Air, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress.
— Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu (@RamMNK) December 23, 2025
While Shankh Air has already got the NOC from Ministry, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress have received their NOCs in this week.
It has… pic.twitter.com/oLWXqBfSFU
An NOC is the first major approval that allows a proposed airline to move ahead towards securing a full Air Operator Certificate from the aviation regulator DGCA before launching commercial services. We recently detailed the major regulatory requirements to start an airline in India.
Shankh Air, promoted by Uttar Pradesh-based Shankh Aviation, plans to operate as a full-service carrier with hubs at Noida International Airport and Lucknow, connecting major cities as well as underserved routes. The airline's aircraft are currently undergoing technical checks and are being prepared for delivery, and the company has indicated it is targeting a launch in the first quarter of 2026. Shankh Air aims to build a fleet of around 20–25 aircraft within two to three years of operations, signalling ambitions beyond a small regional niche.
Al Hind Air is being promoted by the Kerala-based Alhind Group and is expected to start as a regional commuter airline using ATR 72-600 turboprop aircraft, with Kochi as its main hub. The carrier is likely to focus on short-haul routes within southern India at the outset, tapping demand from smaller cities and religious and labour-migration corridors linked to the Gulf region.
FlyExpress is yet to officially announce anything, but they are, as per multiple reports, said to be backed by a courier and cargo-focused group and may prioritise logistics alongside passenger services.
The union minister stated that the new approvals are part of a broader push to increase competition in a market where IndiGo and the Air India group together control over 90 per cent of domestic traffic. He highlighted government schemes like UDAN, which have already helped smaller airlines such as Star Air, IndiaOne Air and Fly91 expand regional connectivity across India.
But India is famously a graveyard for many ambitious airline players such as Go First, Air Deccan, ModiLuft, Kingfisher, and more. How these new players would navigate these turbulent skies would determine their fate in a cutthroat Indian aviation market.
