India needs 1,750 new aircraft over 20 years: Airbus

Hyderabad, March 9 (IANS) India will require 1,750 new passenger and cargo aircraft over the next 20 years to meet an exponential rise in both passenger and freight traffic, according to Airbus latest India Market Forecast.

To help meet this growth, India will need 1,320 new single-aisle aircraft and 430 wide-body aircraft valued at $255 billion, a statement said here on Friday.

"Make in India is at the heart of our strategy. Airbus has the largest footprint in India of any International aircraft manufacturer, nationwide across all aircraft programmes. Our sourcing volume has grown 16 times over the past 10 years and it is currently at more than $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 2019-20 and Airbus is well positioned to partner its growth with backlog orders of over 530 aircraft to date, the statement said.

It said while much of the air traffic growth was expected to be driven by the fast expanding economy, rising wealth and urbanization, ambitious government-backed regional connectivity programmes were also set to enhance demand for air travel.

Domestic Indian traffic was expected to grow five-and-a-half times over the next 20 years (2017-36), reaching the same level as the US domestic traffic now, making it one of the world’s fastest growing markets, according to Airbus’ India Market Forecast.