Aviation Industry in India is a significant one among those industry segments that have experienced a phenomenal growth across the globe over the past years. The open sky policy of the Indian government is one of the key factors that have allured international players into the aviation industry in India. Since long, the aviation industry in India has been growing in terms of number of air travel firms and number of aircrafts. Today, private airlines alone bear the burden of not less than 75% of the domestic aviation requirements.
Indian aviation industry is the 9th largest in the world. As per the statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, in the year 2008 alone not less than 29.8 million people travelled to and from India which was a 30% surge from 2007. Industry experts have predicted that not less than 50 million passengers will be served by the India aviation industry by 2015. Widening opportunities in India will create room for over 69 foreign airlines entering the Indian aviation sector from about 49 countries.
Growth of Indian Aviation industry
The Civil Aviation market in India witnessed a CAGR growth of about 18%, which was valued at US$ 5.6 billion in the year 2008. This figure witnessed almost a doubling surge in August 2009 with the domestic airliners transporting more than 3.67 million passengers against only 2.92 million in the corresponding period of 2007, which was a increase up by 26%. The estimation made by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) states that the domestic airline traffic in the country will go up by 30% to 35% till in 2011 and 2012, while the international traffic is expected to increase by 15%. This would mean not less than 110 million passengers traveling by air by the year 2011. The Aviation Ministry in India has allotted US$ 9 billion to modernize the existing airports by the year 2011.
With respect to the volume of domestic passengers, US have always been leading the sector followed by China, Japan and India. Between 2005 and 2008, the number of domestic flights in the nation rose up by 69%, while the domestic aviation sector grew by 9-10%.
Some of the notable players in the India aviation industry include Kingfisher Airlines and Kingfisher Red (previously Air Deccan), Jet Airways and Jet Lite (previously Air Sahara), Air India and Indian (previously Indian Airlines), IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, Paramount Airways and MDLR Airlines.
Future of Aviation industry in India
With a surging demand and with the entry of a large number of domestic and international companies into the sector, India aviation Industry is sure to witness a phenomenal growth in the near future demonstrating a CAGR growth rate of more than 15% in the forth coming years. It is also estimated that the Ministry of Civil Aviation in India will alone handle about 280 million passengers by the year 2020. Industry experts envisage about US$ 110 billion new investments in the Indian aviation sector with not less than US$ 80 billion exclusively targeted for the purchase of new aircraft and US$ 30 billion for developing the infrastructure at the airports.
