Welcome to the first of a series of articles focusing on Southeast Asia’s aviation industry. Here we explore the growing market emerging between India and Southeast Asia.

Following the pandemic, the Southeast Asian tourism industry turned its attention to India, hoping to capture one of the fastest growing outbound markets in the world as the region moved from recovery into growth. This year promises to see more Southeast Asian countries tapping into the strength of the outbound Indian market for a variety of reasons, outlined below and explored in greater detail throughout this article:

• Southeast Asian countries are actively targeting the Indian market to diversify their tourism base beyond traditional sources.
• Southeast Asia views India as a key market to reduce dependence on China, especially amid declining Chinese arrivals.
• Liberal visa policies for Indian nationals in 2023 and 2024 have facilitated easier travel to Southeast Asia.
• The declaration of 2025 as the ASEAN-India Year of Tourism has heightened interest and promotional efforts.
• Increased airline seat capacity and new routes have improved connectivity between India and Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia sees strong recovery of Indian visitor arrivals to Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam

In 2024:

• The largest Southeast Asian market for Indian arrivals was Thailand, reaching 2 million visitor arrivals, an increase of 8.6% compared to 2019 levels.
• Singapore’s Indian arrivals are yet to return to pre-pandemic levels and remained 16% below 2019.
• Strong growth has taken place in Malaysia, where Indian arrivals increased by 54%compared to 2019, reaching over 1.1 million.
• However, the most dramatic growth has taken place in Vietnam; where Indian arrivals nearly tripled in 2024 (compared to 2019); pre pandemic, India did not feature in Vietnam’s Top 15 source markets, in 2024 it has become Vietnam’s sixth largest market.

Airline seat capacity to India rises, in line with increasing arrivals to Southeast Asia

Seat capacity from India to Southeast Asia has rebounded since the pandemic, exceeding 2019 numbers in 2024. This growth continues in 2025 with scheduled seats projected to exceed pre-pandemic levels by 29% (based on data as of March 2025).

The key markets of Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia which already had relatively high levels of seat capacity from India before the pandemic, have now exceeded those numbers:

Thailand has the highest number of scheduled seats from India in the region, at 3.8 million in 2025, +21% vs 2019. It is also the most connected to India, with 39 routes operating between 19 Indian cities and three major airports in Thailand – Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok Don Mueang, and Phuket – an extra 10 routes compared to pre-pandemic.

Malaysia’s Indian seat capacity is only +4% vs 2019 levels, but it has also seen a major expansion in Indian connectivity since 2024, with new routes from Kuala Lumpur to secondary Indian cities of Kozhikode and Lucknow. The total number of connections between the two countries had fallen from 14 in 2019 down to just 9 in 2021 due to the pandemic, but it has since surged to 20 in 2024.

Singapore has 3.5 million scheduled seats from India in 2025, +22% vs 2019, although the number of city connections remains just below 2019 levels, with routes to 17 Indian cities. Despite seat capacity surpassing 2019 levels, Indian visitor arrivals to Singapore are still 16% behind pre-pandemic numbers, unlike Malaysia. This contrast points to Singapore being more commonly used as a transit hub for outbound Indian travellers.

Notably, Indonesia and Vietnam showed significant growth of seat capacity from India, +1,914% and +2,425% vs 2019, respectively. Coming in from a low base in 2019, the two countries boosted capacity post-pandemic, supported by their recently expanded air service agreements with India.

Air capacity between Indonesia and India was previously limited to 28 weekly flights per country. The two countries revised their bilateral air service agreement in January 2025, shifting from a flight-based limit to a seat-based capacity system. The new agreement now allows airlines to operate up to 9,000 one-way seats per week, which translates to almost 50 weekly one-way flights.

The bilateral air service agreement between India and Vietnam, which was also previously limited to 28 weekly flights, was increased to 42 weekly flights in 2024. This increase is in line with the recent surge in Indian arrivals to Vietnam, with visitor numbers reaching nearly 200% above pre-pandemic levels in 2024.

Interestingly, the Philippines have yet to recover any direct flights to India, despite the introduction of an e-visa scheme. Manila-Delhi was the only connection available between the two countries in 2019. Growth had started to take place in early 2020, however after air travel came to a standstill due to the pandemic, it has been slow to return between these two countries. Indian international arrivals to the Philippines are also seeing the lowest recovery rate in the region, with capacity lagging behind at -42% vs 2019 levels.

Southeast Asian Airlines Dominate Capacity 

Southeast Asian airlines have operated the majority of scheduled capacity from India since before the pandemic, and while that remains the case in 2025 the share operated by Indian carriers is growing, up to 37.2%. And with India’s two main carriers set to receive some of the largest global aircraft orders in the next decade, this imbalance is likely to be corrected in the short to medium term.

In Malaysia, local airlines are responsible for 87% of all seats from India in 2025, with the combined seats from AirAsia Group and Malaysia Airlines alone occupying a huge three-quarters (75%) of the total seats.

Singapore Airlines was early to the game when it came to tapping into the Indian aviation market. As a joint venture with India’s Tata Sons, the group founded Vistara in 2013 which quickly climbed up as one of India’s largest domestic carriers. The airline launched its first international route to Singapore in 2019. Tata Group’s acquisition of Air India in 2022 led to the eventual merger of Air India and Vistara in 2024, which granted Singapore Airlines a 25.1% stake in the Air India group, as well as a one-off $1.10 billion SGD revenue gain. It is expected that Singapore Airlines and Air India will continue to deepen their relationship and expand their connectivity.

Cambodia and Brunei also joined the race for Indian arrivals by opening their first direct flights with India in 2024, operated by flag carriers Cambodia Angkor Air and Royal Brunei Airlines, respectively. These direct connections are the first step towards attracting more Indian tourists.

In Vietnam, the share of seats from India to Vietnam by local airlines increased from only 18% in 2019 to 78% in 2025. VietJet grew from just 4,680 seats in 2019 to 476,587 in 2025, occupying over half (52%) of all available seats from India to Vietnam. VietJet recently opened four new China routes linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with Beijing and Guangzhou. The airline expects these flight routes to ease access and shorten flight times between India and China, looking potentially to position Vietnam as a hub to link India and China given the limited connectivity between these two markets. Geographically, it also makes more sense to fly via Vietnam rather than Singapore.

Meanwhile, no Indonesian airlines currently operate any direct flights to India. However, following the expansion of the air service agreement, it is likely that Indonesian airlines will begin to build connectivity with India. One such airline is AirAsia Indonesia, who has already expressed its interest to open Indian routes. Airlines may also look beyond main gateway Jakarta to iconic tourist destination Bali, given that India is the second largest market to the island, only behind Australia, despite the lack of direct flights.

Who Are the Key Players?

Low-cost carriers (LCCs) operate the largest share of capacity operating between India and Southeast Asia in 2025.

• AirAsia is currently the largest operator between India and Malaysia, serving 16 routes between the two countries, doubling from only 8 in 2019. Along with its subsidiary AirAsia X, the group occupies 41% share of total scheduled seats from India to Malaysia in 2025.
• The AirAsia group also has the most routes to India in the Thai aviation market at 16, including 3 Indian connections to Phuket, in addition to Bangkok Don Mueang. In comparison, Thai Airways, who occupies the biggest share (25%) of seats, only has 9 routes, operating solely out of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.
• Indian airline IndiGo occupies another quarter (25%) share of total scheduled seats in 2025, operating 14 routes between India and Thailand, two short of Thai AirAsia.

Beyond the Metros: A Push for Connectivity to and From Secondary Cities

With major metropolitan cities in India now connected to major gateways in Southeast Asia, the next logical step for airline expansion is secondary city connections, hoping to further their reach into previously untapped markets.

While Southeast Asian airlines are looking to connect key cities with Indian secondary cities, IndiGo is looking to connect secondary Indian cities to secondary Southeast Asian destinations. The Indian carrier recently opened the Bengaluru-Langkawi and Chennai-Penang routes in 2024, becoming the only carrier to connect Malaysian cities (other than Kuala Lumpur) to India. In Thailand, IndiGo also expanded to secondary cities, launching routes to Phuket and Krabi. With IndiGo’s significant fleet order meaning a new A320 series aircraft will arrive every week for the next decade, there will be plenty of opportunity for growth out of India.

Southeast Asia has seen India as a valuable market that could diversify their reliance on the Chinese market for some time now. However, at a time where a lull in Chinese arrivals is being experienced in countries like Thailand, which have had a series of unfortunate incidents that have impacted traveller sentiment –interest is only set to intensify.