‘Indian cos to need 2k more planes in 20 yrs’
HYDERABAD: Indian airlines will require about 2,100 new aircraft, including 1,770 new small aircraft and 440 medium and large aircraft, over the next two decades, French aerospace major Airbus SE said in its latest India Market Forecast 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 G30 nations, and a burgeoning middle class will spent more on air travel,” Airbus said. “As a result passenger traffic in India will grow at 6.2% per annum by 2040,” it said.
India will also need 34,000 more pilots and 45,000 more aircraft technicians in the next 29 years, according to Airbus data.
Meanwhile, as much as 74% of passengers travelling on longhaul routes from India in 2019 took connecting flights through international hubs, Remi Maillard, president and managing director, India and South Asia, Airbus, said at the biennial Wings India 2022 in Hyderabad. “The wide-body fleet of Indian airlines are mostly stagnant,” Maillard said.
There is an untapped potential and an opportunity to rebalance the long haul market share.
Maillard said that India, currently the third largest aviation market in the world, has only 57 wide body aircraft across its airline fleet, compared to 458 in China and 686 in the US.
Long haul market share of Indian airlines is 14% (of total fleet), compared to 43% in China and 38% in the US.
Recent media reports indicate that Airbus is in talks with Tata Group for providing new A350 planes to Air India. The airline largely has Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 wide body aircraft in its fleet which it utilizes to fly to long haul destinations such as those in the US and Europe.
Air India has an ecosystem in place for Boeing wide body planes, but production issues have delayed deliveries of new 787 planes.