Vande Bharat achieved a year-on-year passenger increase of nearly 34%, with total passengers rising from 2.97 crore in FY25 to 3.98 crore in FY26.
The Vande Bharat Sleeper service, launched in January 2026, transported 1.21 lakh passengers over 119 trips within its initial three months, showcasing strong early interest in the new service.
In an official statement, the Ministry of Railways reported that since its inception in February 2019, the Vande Bharat Express has moved more than 9.1 crore passengers across one lakh trips.
In contrast, growth in domestic aviation during the same timeframe was relatively modest. For the first 11 months of FY26, air passenger traffic grew by only 1.6% year-on-year, reflecting a downturn.
According to the latest report from global analytics firm Crisil, air traffic in FY26 is expected to grow by 0–3% year-on-year, achieving between 165 and 170 million passengers.
The Government of India unveiled UDAN 2.0 on March 25, 2026, with a total investment of ₹28,840 crore aimed at developing 100 new airports and 200 helipads from FY27 to FY36, building upon the original UDAN 1.0 scheme, which had a budget of ₹8,523 crore implemented over FY17–26.
The analytics firm highlighted that UDAN 2.0 signifies a strategic move towards a more integrated regional aviation framework, encompassing airport development, operations and maintenance, helipad expansion, and support for airline sustainability.
Despite ongoing infrastructure growth, UDAN routes contribute a mere 2–3% of total domestic passenger traffic, suggesting a minimal impact on overall passenger numbers.
Among the airports supported by UDAN, only Hindon and Kannur surpassed one million annual passengers in FY26, spurred by expanded airline capacity.
Data also indicates that smaller regional airports demonstrated stronger recovery post-COVID from a lower base, with some experiencing growth rates three to ten times higher between FY20 and FY25, compared to an overall passenger traffic growth of just 1.2 times.
