Boeing Contemplates Big Benefits From India’s Aviation Boom

Predicting a giant leap in air passengers, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has released a report which claims Indian airlines will order 2,100 aircraft in the next 20 years. Boeing expects that more than 70 percent of these will be in single-aisle aircraft.

New Delhi (Sputnik) –  India is the world’s fastest growing aviation market with the number of air passengers likely to cross 100 million this year. Till June this year, Indian aviation industry had clocked 18.3% growth in domestic passenger market, thanks to the subsidized regional connectivity scheme named UDAAN, which provides one hour flight at approximately $38.

"The increasing number of passengers combined with a strong exchange rate, low fuel prices, and high load factor bodes well for India's aviation market, especially for the low-cost carriers," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president, Asia Pacific and India Sales at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.“

Going by the annual growth rate of 22% for the year 2016-17, the domestic air traffic, carried by scheduled Indian carriers, could reach about 126 million passengers during 2017-18. The provisional annual growth for the year 2016-17 for international air traffic passengers, carried by scheduled carriers is about 10 per cent,” Jayant Sinha, India’s Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said in Parliament last week.

According to the Boeing report, India can order 1,780 planes having capacities of 90-230 passengers. This will provide business of $195 billion to the aircraft manufacturers. Demand for small wide-body airplane of passenger capacity between 200 and 300 would generate business up to $50 billion and the plane having passenger capacity of more than 300 will generate $45 billion revenue from India.

Currently, Boeing and Airbus dominate the aeroplane market in India while Russian manufacturers Sukhoi is trying to enter into Indian market with its Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100) civilian aircraft. Russia has offered India to set up production line in India under the Make in India program. The SSJ100 is a twin-engine plane made by Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company. It can transport up to 98 passengers and fly distances of up to 2,470 miles. India aviation market is dominated by low-cost carriers with more than 60 percent of flights in the country.