Thaindian News

Hyderabad, March 4 (IANS) Airbus and Boeing, the two leading aircraft makers in the world, Thursday forecast robust growth of Indian civil aviation, projecting the aircraft demand of over 1,000 by 2028.
Raising India’s plane demand forecast for next two decades following signs of recovery, Airbus Industrie projected that the country will require 1,032 aircraft valued at $138 billion while its competitor Boeing put the figure at 1,000 valued at $100 billion.

Airbus said the requirement would be to serve strong demand for passenger air travel and freight, and to replace ageing fleets.

Out of these, 993 are new passenger aircraft valued at $131 billion and 39 are new freighters valued at $9 billion.

Miranda Mills, Airbus vice president-sales, India, told reporters at India Aviation 2010 here that the company had revised upward the forecast for India in view of the economic recovery and revival of air traffic.

The 2008 forecast had put the total number of aircraft under 1,000.

The rising demand will take India to the fifth position in the top 10 countries in aircraft demand for the next two decades.

Airbus predicted that India will be the fastest growing country for air travel for the next 10 years with domestic traffic increasing by an average 12.2 percent per year.

Traffic growth will also be amongst the world’s highest, averaging 7.3 percent over the next 20 years compared to the world average of 4.7 percent.

By 2028, Indian passenger fleet will increase four-fold to 1,163 aircraft, it said.

The freighter market will grow nearly 20 fold by 2028, mushrooming to 210 aircraft, comprising 39 new freighters and 171 conversions from passenger aircraft, it added.

“The Indian economy is showing signs of rebounding and this will translate to new aircraft orders by 2012. Long term, the potential for growth in India’s aviation sector remains exceptional,” Mills said.

Airbus said that by 2028, 14 of the top 20 airports in the world will be in the Asia-Pacific region and they will include Delhi and Mumbai. Asia will lead in world traffic by 2028, she added.

With 10 percent growth, domestic India will be the second biggest growth market after domestic Turkey. Deregulation, economic growth, population growth and inter-regional trade will be the drivers of this growth, it added.

Boeing also released the forecast for India saying the country would need 1,000 commercial jets worth $100 billion (Rs.5 lakh crore) in the next 20 years.

Currently, Indian air operators own around 380 commercial jets.

“According to our market outlook for 2009, India’s domestic passenger traffic last year reached 43.8 million, the highest in Indian history. This forecasts a strong future for India’s growing aviation market,” Dinesh Keskar, president of Boeing India, told reporters on the sidelines of the air show here.

The Boeing sees recovery of the aviation market in India.

“There is strength and resilience in India’s commercial aviation sector both in the near and long term. If you take a realistic and broad look at the Indian market, what resonates is that the future growth of air travel is among the greatest in the world.

“Air travel in India, tied closely to the country’s economic growth, will show a compound growth of nearly 10 percent,” Keskar said.

Keskar said the airlines in India had started making profits and the trend was likely to continue through the year.

The domestic passenger traffic has recovered from the 2008-2009 slump. The figures of January (4.09 million passengers) show a recovery. “If this trend continues, the year will end with 48 million passengers, a growth of 10 percent,” Keskar said.