Hyderabad, March 24 (Bureau) India will continue to be the world leader in growth and the passenger traffic is expected to grow 6.2 percent during the next 20 years as against 3.9 percent global average, according to Airbus’ latest India Market Forecast released at the Wings India Aviation Show which began at Begumpet Airport here on Thursday.
Over the next decade, India will grow to have the largest population in the world, its economy will grow the fastest among the G20 nations, and a burgeoning middle class will spend more on air travel, the forecast said. To support and maintain the operational fleet over the next 20 years, the India aviation eco-system will need to train a significant number of new pilots and technicians and will require an additional 34,000 pilots and 45,000 technicians by 2040, it said. To service its growing aviation industry, India will need 2,210 aircraft for Indian carriers between 2021-2040 with new gen aircraft with 25 percent lower carbon footprint, the Forecast said.
Significant opportunities exist for Indian carriers to tap India’s world leading growth and key pillars driving India’s growth including urbanization ( 595 million by 2036) and 5$ trillion economy by 2027. The US is the most lucrative international market for India but the Indian carriers captured only 12 percent of pax revenues in 2019 followed by Middle East ( 40 percent) and Europe ( 25 per cent), it said. India has witnessed an upward trend in the growth of air traffic over the last ten years- with domestic traffic growing almost threefold and international traffic more than doubling. On international routes, India has only about 1/10th of the widebody (WB) fleet installed in similar markets, depriving homegrown carriers of a larger share of the profitable long-haul routes now dominated by foreign airlines, the forecast said.