Civil Aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest growing in the country during the last three years. India has become the third largest domestic aviation market in the world and is expected to overtake the UK to become the third-largest air passenger market by 2024.
India’s Civil Aviation industry has flown many miles, set numerous milestones, and overcome many challenges to become one of the world’s most lucrative aviation markets. The growth of the sector has been monumental. To unleash its true potential, the government has set up a roadmap to achieve the vision of 2047 for the civil aviation sector of India focusing on policies aimed at modernisation, future technologies, and last mile connectivity
In pursuance of the Prime Minister Modi’s vision to fulfil the common man’s aspirations of flying and the grand success of the previous editions, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Government of India, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have organised the current edition of WINGS INDIA 2024, a flagship event on Civil Aviation sector, at Hyderabad.
The event scheduled from 18 to 21 January 2024, at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad, will be the most comprehensive event of the Civil Aviation Industry in India. The event aims to bring together industry experts, aircraft and helicopter manufacturers, aircraft machinery and equipment companies, airlines, MROs, airline services and cargo sector, airport infrastructure, space and drones industry, besides skill development for the burgeoning MRO and aviation-related ancillary sectors.
India’s Civil Aviation industry has flown many miles, set numerous milestones, and overcome many challenges to become one of the world’s most lucrative aviation markets
It would not be wrong to say that the Indian aviation industry is at a crucial stage of a major transformation. At present, the exponential growth prospects offered by India for the aviation industry are unparalleled. The aircraft orders placed by IndiGo and Air India, in 2023, vindicate such an assumption. Additionally, aircraft manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing establishing their assembly line in India could also prove to be a major game-changer for the Indian aviation sector, as it will boost major employment generation, skills development, and strengthening of the overall aviation and aerospace ecosystem within India.
International tourist arrivals to India are expected to reach 30.5 million. By 2028 Government of India aims to operationalise more than 220 airports from the current 148 airports in the coming years. 50 airports under a low-cost model are to be developed all over the country, including under PPP model. Further, freight traffic at Indian airports is expected to cross 11.4 MT by 2032.
India is one of the fastest-growing civil aviation markets and currently the third largest civil aviation market in the world. 1748 foreign airlines flights and 1440 domestic airlines flights connect India globally. 29 States were covered under the UDAN 2.0 Scheme. For last mile connectivity, under UDAN 4.2, 186 new routes have been awarded. The medical tourism sector is also predicted to increase at a CAGR of 21.1% by 2027.
Another indicator of India’s growing clout in the civil aviation sector is evident by its major operators buying airplanes at an unprecedented level. Its largest airlines have ordered nearly 1,000 jets last year, a spending spree that is unparalleled in the civil aviation sector.
At present, the exponential growth prospects offered by India for the aviation industry are unparalleled
New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will be ready for handling 109 million passengers in 2024, as it prepares to become the world’s second busiest, after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States.
In addition, various leading global players are focussing more and more on India. For example RTX business units of Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace are developing sustainable solutions for regional aircraft that operate in the UDAN segment like the RTX hybrid-electric flight demonstrator program.
Meanwhile, P&W continues to increase its partnership with India, by exploring supply chain growth here. In addition, P&W has been working with Indian suppliers for over a decade in machining and assembly.
P&W has sourced nearly $55 million in the past 10 years for India from leading aerospace suppliers. It has also sourced over $500 million in Engineering Services into India over the past two decades. We aim to expand our sourcing in India to reach nearly $150 million annually by 2030.
As India moves up the ranks of the world’s biggest economies, India is scrambling to meet the expanding ambitions of its burgeoning middle class. Its airports present highly visible achievements in this regard. The enormous aviation build-out, with a surge of investment behind it, has pride of place in India’s case for a greater standing on the world stage.
Kapil Kaul, the chief executive of CAPA India, an advisory firm focused on aviation recently told WSJ that “the next two to three years are critical for achieving the quality of growth that India desires and deserves”. Growth has so far been profitless. Now Indian aviation must prove it can make money.
India is one of the fastest-growing civil aviation markets and currently the third largest civil aviation market in the world
The effects of the spending spree should redound across India’s economy. Cargo comes with passenger traffic, and foreign investment tends to follow closely behind, Kaul said.
The bulk of the growth of Indian aviation sector has been propelled by home-grown airlines, which have clocked a 36 percent increase in passengers since 2022. Foreign tourist arrivals are rebounding since the Covid pandemic. So low-cost carriers are adding new countries to their destinations in order to accommodate India’s demand for foreign tourism.
The Delhi-Mumbai air corridor is already one of the world’s 10 busiest. Like Delhi, Mumbai has new airport terminals that would be the envy of any big city, not to mention Bengaluru’s glorious new all-bamboo Terminal 2 at Kempegowda International Airport. But this infrastructure expansion is not limited to the country’s premier metropolitan areas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government likes to point out that the number of airports has doubled in the nine years since he took office, to 148 from previous 74. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Mr Modi’s aviation minister, predicts these airports to reach the number 230 by 2030. So far, the Modi-government has invested more than $11 billion in airports over the past decade, and Mr Scindia has promised another $15 billion.
With aviation’s growth in the decade before the pandemic steady at about 15 percent a year, the Indian boom seems all set to change the future of aviation worldwide.
The challenges are not just in terms of scaling up the airline fleet itself, but building new airports, upgrading the supporting infrastructure and training personnel
Indeed, growth numbers are promising. Monthly air traffic has nearly returned to its pre-pandemic peak of 31 million passengers – and is over 50% higher than in 2015, according to CEIC.
Still, the challenges still remain: not just in terms of scaling up the airline fleet itself, but building new airports, upgrading the supporting infrastructure, training personnel and taking into consideration the increasingly costly jet fuel.
In order to achieve this and much more, India will have to motivate international airlines to fly in and out of India on a much larger scale. All Indian airlines together operate about 700 commercial planes, fewer than some of the largest individual global airlines, according to CAPA’s data, and this has to change to make the Indian aviation sector, fly much higher!
-The writer is a New Delhi-based senior commentator on international and strategic affairs, environmental issues, an interfaith practitioner, and a media consultant. The views expressed are personal and do not necessarily carry the views of Raksha Anirveda
