Civil Aviation Ministry flags fake Air Suvidha 2.0 portals as domestic traffic edges up 1.44%
The ministry said Air Suvidha 2.0 health declarations for international arrivals are free and warned travellers against payment-seeking fake websites. Domestic passenger traffic reached 864.04 lakh in January-June 2026, up 1.44% year on year, though June volumes slipped 1.03% from May.
What happened
Ministry of Civil Aviation · India’s Civil Aviation Ministry warned international travellers against fake Air Suvidha 2.0 payment portals, stressing the
Key facts
- Air Suvidha declaration can be submitted up to 24 hours before arrival
- 21-day travel and exposure history required
- Domestic passenger traffic: 864.04 lakh in January-June 2026
- Year-on-year traffic growth: 1.44%
- January-June 2025 traffic: 851.74 lakh passengers
- June 2026 traffic: 134.64 lakh passengers
- May 2026 traffic: 136.04 lakh passengers
- Month-on-month June traffic decline: 1.03%
- June load factors: Akasa Air 92.2%, SpiceJet 87.8%, Air India Group 85.5%, IndiGo 85.1%
Why this matters
Travel-tech, airport-services and cybersecurity buyers may find partnership opportunities in verified traveller-information and anti-fraud tools, particularly for international-arrival journeys.
What to watch
- Further ministry, CERT-In or airline advisories identifying specific fraudulent domains or reporting a sharp rise in complaints.
- Changes in international arrival rules, health declaration requirements or official Air Suvidha platform availability.
- July-August domestic passenger data: continued month-on-month declines would weaken airport discretionary retail demand.
- Airport-level passenger mix, especially international departures and arrivals, which matters more for duty-free and premium travel retail than total domestic traffic.
- Growth in chargebacks, failed payments or search-ad impersonation incidents across airline and OTA channels.
- Place prominent in-app and checkout notices that Air Suvidha 2.0 declarations are free, with links only to official government channels.
- Strengthen phishing detection, ad-keyword monitoring and payment-dispute workflows for travel-related scam claims.
- Airport retailers should prioritize inventory and staffing at major international gateways rather than assuming uniform domestic-footfall growth.
- OTAs and airlines should bundle verified pre-travel guidance with bookings to capture trust-led direct traffic and reduce abandonment.
- Travel merchants should avoid marketing language that can be confused with paid government-form processing.