The Hindu Business Line : India may need 1,100 new aircraft in 20 years: Airbus

MR SANJAY SHARMA, Senior Analyst Airline Marketing, Airbus (left), and Mr Justin Dubon, Regional Press Manager, at a press conference in Mumbai on Monday. — Shashi Ashiwal

Advertisement

Mumbai Feb. 5 Aircraft manufacturer Airbus estimates that India will require 1,100 new aircraft, estimated to cost $105 billion, over the next 20 years, going by the growth in demand for air travel.

According to Mr Sanjay Sharma, Senior Marketing Analyst of Airbus, effectively India will need 712 single-aisle, 121 medium twin-aisle, 58 long range and 44 large aircraft during this period.

"India will continue to be the fastest growing country for air travel for the next 20 years, as per an Indian market forecast by Airbus," Mr Sharma told presspersons on Monday.

Demand for air travel in India is growing at a CAGR of 7.7 per cent against the world average of 4.8 per cent with the Indian domestic market growing at 16.4 per cent per annum, he said.

Mr Sharma was, however, non-committal when asked whether Airbus plans to set up a manufacturing facility in India to tap the growing aircraft market. For the freighter segment, over the next 20 years, Airbus estimates that there would be a demand for 165 new aircraft - 70 small jets, 55 regional jets, 30 Long Range aircraft and 10 large aircraft.

"This demand is being fuelled by the low cost carriers. However, for these demand projections to be met, Indian carriers will have to regain their market share to 50 per cent of international traffic into and out of the country from the current 35 per cent," he pointed out.

In 2005 and 2006, Indian airliners have placed orders for a total of 406 aircraft with Airbus getting 71 per cent of these (288 aircraft) through seven large customers and Boeing bagging 29 per cent (118 aircraft).

On the preparedness of Indian airport infrastructure for the arrival of the new mega-sized 550-seater A-380 aircraft, Mr Sharma said, "to date, Kochi airport is the only one ready for it. But most Indian airports will be ready for it by end-2008 in time for the delivery of the aircraft to India."

Corporate jets

Regarding the demand for corporate jets, usually purchased by companies for executive travel, Mr Sharma said, "we have already delivered one A-319 corporate jet and have an order for one more. The market is growing and there is always the possibility for fractional ownership of the aircraft as in other parts of the world."

In the very large wide-body segment, Kingfisher will become the first Indian carrier to operate the advanced passenger aircraft, the A 380.

Mr Sharma said Airbus's engineering centre in Bangalore would focus on high-end engineering analysis and design. Other initiatives include establishment of a joint CAE and Airbus training centre for pilots and maintenance crews.