India needs 1,750 new passenger and cargo aircraft in next 20 years: Airbus

March 9, 2018: According to Airbus latest India market forecast, India will need 1,750 new passenger and cargo aircraft over next 20 years to meet an exponential rise in both passenger and freight traffic.

To meet this growth, India will have to procure 1,320 new single-aisle aircraft and 430 wide-body aircraft valued at $255 billion.

According to Airbus, most of the air traffic growth is expected to be driven by the fast expanding economy, rising wealth, urbanization and ambitious government-backed regional connectivity programmes.

By 2036, Indians will each make four times as many flights as today. As a result, traffic serving the Indian market is expected to grow 8.1 percent every year, over the next 20 years, which is almost twice as fast as the world average of 4.4 percent.

The domestic traffic is expected to grow five-and-half times over the next 20 years, reaching the current level of the USA domestic traffic, thereby making it one of the world’s fastest growing markets, said Airbus.

“Make in India is at the heart of our strategy. Airbus has the largest footprint in India compared to any International aircraft manufacturer. Our sourcing volume has grown 16 times over the last ten years, and it currently stands at over $550 million annually,” said Srinivasan Dwarakanath, president, Airbus Commercial Aircraft in India.

India is set to become the world’s third largest aviation market by 2020, and Airbus is well positioned to partner its growth with its backlog orders of over 530 aircraft till date.

The overall product line of Airbus comprises best-selling A320 Family in the single aisle market, A330 and A330neo, A350 XWB in the mid-size widebody category and the flagship A380 in the large aircraft segment.

In the freight market, Airbus currently offers the new-build A330-200F and the passenger-to-freighter (A330P2F) programme.