Airbus and Boeing eye India's 'soaring skies'
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Air traffic is booming in India, even though only a tiny fraction of its people fly each year, and manufacturers are seeking lucrative deals at the flagship Aero India exhibition from Monday. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will also hold its annual general meeting in June in New Delhi, the capital of the world's fifth-largest economy, another clear sign of India's market punch.
The sustained growth of its economy and middle class have made India and its 1.4 billion people the third-largest air market in the world, after the United States and China. "India is the rising star of global aerospace," said Remi Maillard, Airbus India and South Asia chief. "It is the fastest-growing commercial aviation market in the world -- and it will remain so for the next 20 years."
Airbus rival Boeing, which will also take part in the five-day Aero India show in Bengaluru for global aero vendors organized by the defense ministry, is equally enthusiastic. "It's the most dynamic market on the planet -- and certainly the most exciting," Boeing India head Salil Gupte told AFP.
India's civil aviation ministry boasts of "soaring skies" in a sector "experiencing a meteoric rise." That growth should lead to an increase in traffic in South Asia, mainly in India, of more than seven percent per year until 2043, according to Boeing's forecasts.
"Per capita air travel remains low in India at a mere 0.12, compared to 0.46 in China," Maillard said, calling it a "telling comment on the potential of the Indian aviation market." Railways remain hugely popular but traveling by trains crisscrossing a country about three-quarters the area of the European Union is often slow and chaotic.
Boeing estimates that it would take around two percent of the 18 million daily train users -- compared with 430,000 air passengers -- to switch to flying for the air market to double.
'Slippers'
Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the development of the air sector a priority since coming to power in 2014.
Modi, who has said he wants to "bring air travel to the common people," began a plan in 2016 to boost air links between small towns and the country's megacities.
"A common man who travels in slippers should also be seen in the aircraft -- this is my dream," Modi was quoted as saying by the aviation ministry.
The number of airports has more than doubled in the past decade -- from 74 in 2014 to 157 in 2024, according to ministry figures. The government is pouring in millions of dollars and is promising to increase the numbers to between 350 and 400 by 2047, the centenary of India's independence.
At the same time, the government has opened programs to train some 30,000 pilots and at least as many mechanics over the next 20 years.
Airbus and Boeing are key partners in that, with an emphasis on promoting women.
'Revolution'
The major manufacturers say the next leap in the airline sector in India will be international. "The kind of revolution we have seen in the Indian domestic market in the last few years is now happening in the long-haul market," said Airbus's Maillard, adding the company was "leveraging India's locational advantage, demographic dividend, and economic growth." Gupte said Boeing was expecting more orders for large aircraft capable of long-haul flights, which he believes will make up 15 percent of India's total fleet within the next 20 years.
Boeing forecasts that the Indian market will need at least 2,835 new aircraft by this deadline -- three-quarters for market growth, and the rest as replacement. For Airbus, India made up nearly a 10th of its global commercial aircraft delivered last year -- 766 commercial aircraft in total to 86 customers in 2024, with 72 going to Indian carriers.
Boeing, which was shaken by scandals related to the production quality of its aircraft, and slowed down by a strike, has not released figures for 2024. Neither aircraft manufacturer wanted to detail its ambitions for the Aero India show. However, India's order basket is overflowing. Air India, after a giant 2023 contract for 470 aircraft -- 250 Airbus, 220 Boeing -- ordered 100 more Airbus planes last year. India's largest carrier, low-cost airline IndiGo, is also not satisfied at having placed the largest order in volume in the history of civil aviation -- 500 from Airbus in 2023. It ordered 30 more last year.
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