India’s demand for new aircraft to reach 1,750 over next 20 years: Airbus

March 9, 2018: India will require 1,750 new passenger and cargo aircraft over the next 20 years to meet an exponential rise in both passenger and freight traffic, according to Airbus’ latest India Market Forecast. To help meet this growth, India will need 1,320 new single-aisle aircraft and 430 wide-body aircraft valued at $255 billion.

While much of the air traffic growth is expected to be driven by the fast expanding economy, rising wealth and urbanisation, ambitious government-backed regional connectivity programmes are also set to enhance demand for air travel. By 2036, Indians will each make four times as many flights as today. As a result, traffic serving the Indian market is forecast to grow 8.1 percent per year over the next 20 years, almost twice as fast as the world average of 4.4 percent.

Domestic Indian traffic is expected to grow five-and-half times over the next 20 years (2017-2036) reaching the same level as USA domestic traffic today, making it one of the world’s fastest growing markets, according to Airbus’ latest India Market Forecast for the period.

"Make in India is at the heart of our strategy. Airbus has the largest footprint in India of any International aircraft manufacturer, nationwide across all aircraft programmes. Our sourcing volume has grown 16 times over the past ten years and it is currently at more than $550 million annually,” said Srinivasan Dwarakanath, president, Airbus Commercial Aircraft in India.

India is set to become the world’s third largest aviation market by 2019/20 and Airbus is well positioned to partner its growth with backlog orders of over 530 aircraft to date, informs the European aerospace major.

“This means we will be delivering on an average one aircraft per week over the next 10 years,” Dwarakanath further said, to emphasise the importance of the Indian market in Airbus’ global business plans.

He further said that Airbus has a more than 70 percent backlog order share and more than 60 percent of in-service fleet. India would require 24,000 new pilots and maintenance engineers over the next 20 years.