Article Posted on : - Mar 15, 2014

HYDERABAD (PTI): Two leading global aircraft makers, Airbus and Boeing, have projected a healthy outlook for the Indian market, saying that airlines in the country would have a demand of 1,300 to 1,600 more planes till 2032.

While European manufacturer Airbus expects that Indian carriers would require 1,290 new passenger aircraft valued at USD 190 billion to meet the burgeoning demand, US firm Boeing estimated a requirement of 1,600 aircraft during the period.

"Indian annual passenger traffic growth rates of 8.6 per cent are well above the Asia-Pacific average growth rate of 6.1 per cent and the world average of 4.7 per cent. Of the requirement for 1,290 new aircraft, some 73 per cent will be for growth and 27 per cent for replacement," Airbus EVP Strategy and Marketing Kiran Rao said in Hyderabad.

Boeing's Senior Vice President (Sales) for Asia Pacific and India Dinesh Keskar said his company "projects demand for more than 1,600 new airplanes in India over the next 20 years, valued at USD 205 billion."

Airbus projected that between now and 2032 the new passenger aircraft requirements would include 913 single aisles like A-320 and A-320neo Family, 322 twin-aisles like A -350 XWB and A-330 and 56 very large aircraft like the superjumbo A-380.

It said by 2032, the current fleet of 343 aircraft would more than triple to some 1,233 aircraft.

In passenger traffic terms, domestic India was the fastest growing flow increasing at almost 10 per cent per year to 2032 that would make it the world's third largest domestic aviation market.

Today, one in 20 Indians travel by air and in 2032 this would increase five-fold to a quarter of the population, taking at least one flight, the Airbus outlook projected.

By 2032, the number Indian cities with over a million passengers every month would have grown to 13 from two today (Delhi and Mumbai). "This exponential growth will continue to drive the need for larger aircraft like the A-380 to operate in the country," it said.

Boeing's projection was that India's commercial aviation fleet would grow more than five times in size.

Boeing estimated that Indian carriers would rely mainly on single-aisle airplanes like the next-generation Boeing 737 and the 737 MAX. Single-aisle aircraft would represent 83 per cent of the new airplanes in the country.

Keskar said India could be the world's fourth-largest economy if the current trends continue to help drive demand for air travel.