India To Need 1,750 New Jets To Meet Demand

Airbus says India will need 1,750 new passenger and cargo aircraft over the next 20 years to meet strong demand, with the country set to become the world’s third largest aviation market by 2019/20.

Of the total, Airbus forecasts the need for 1,320 new single-aisle aircraft and 430 wide-bodies. In total, the aircraft are valued at USD$255 billion at list prices.

Airbus said the growth is expected to be driven “by the fast expanding economy, rising wealth and urbanisation, [and] ambitious government backed regional connectivity programmes.

Four times as many Indians are forecast to travel by air in 2036 as today, with the market to expand by 8.1 percent per annum over the next 20 years. That is almost twice the global forecast of 4.4 percent.

Domestic Indian traffic is expected to grow five-and-half times over the 2017-2036 period, reaching the same level as USA domestic traffic today, Airbus forecasts.

Airbus said it will deliver one aircraft to India each week, on average, over the next 10 years.