Indian Civil Aviation Sector on High Growth Trajectory

Indian Civil Aviation sector has been given an impetus by the government in the last one decade through multi-pronged approach. While the UDAN scheme has aimed at boosting regional connectivity, there has been focus on developing infrastructure throughout the country with the aim of growing passenger and cargo traffic.

Growth in Passenger and Cargo Traffic

The domestic air traffic in India has increased from 60 million in 2013-14 to more than 145 million in 2023 over a period of 10 years. This is an increase of 135% and is still growing. It is expected to reach 300 million by 2030 which is double of the present traffic.

On front of the international passenger traffic, there has been an increase of about 50% from 2013-14 to 2023 and it has reached 70 million passengers in 2023.

The cargo transport has also seen a 65% increase in the same time, witnessing increase from 2.2 million tonnes to 3.6 million tonnes.

Growth in Number of Airports

For growth of air transportation sector, the airports have to be developed. An allocation of $11 billion was made for rapid development of new airports almost a decade back. In 2014, there were 74 operational airports in India, which increased to 157 in 2024. This expected to increase to 200 by 2025 and to 350-400 airports by 2047.

Growth in Airlines Fleet

Airplanes meant for passengers and cargo transportation must also increase with time if infrastructure increase is to be utilized in sustainable manner. Airline companies in India have been increasing their fleet size with time. In 2014, there were about 400 airplanes with the airlines and this increased to 700 planes in 2024. This is a 75% increase. However, another 1400 new planes are expected to be added in the next five years which is almost double the capacity of present times.

A recent initiative has been to make Airbus planes in India in partnership with TATA SSL and Mahindra Aerospace Structures Pvt Ltd.

New Airlines and Consolidation in Aviation Sector

There has been launch of new airlines, namely Akasa Air, Fly19, Shankh Air in the last two years. Further, there has been consolidation of the airline companies as Tata group’s Vistara is to be merged with Air India. Merger of AIX and Air India Express has already been completed. There is an expectation that as the market matures there can be more airline companies operating with different business models in Indian market.

Training of Pilots and Cabin Crew

With growth in aviation sector, there will be demand for more pilots and cabin crew. So, training schools will have to be established for the same. There have been efforts in this direction as well.

• Recently launch of Airbus-Air India Training Centre in Gurugram was announced which will train about 10000 pilots in years to come and will have 10 flight simulators for this purpose.
• A GMR School of Aviation has been inaugurated for training purposes.

The percent of women pilots in Indian aviation market is about 15% which is way above the global average of 5%. More participation of women in this sector is also to be encouraged.