High potential for air travel growth in India during 2017: Boeing

Global aerospace major Boeing on Wednesday said that it saw a high potential for air travel growth in India during 2017.

"The major factors we watch - the exchange rate, fuel price and the profitability of the airlines - are all still favourable and we remain confident in the strong growth of India's commercial aviation sector," said Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and India Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"We see the potential for travel growth in 2017 to continue to be high in India and we expect more than 100 million passengers to fly domestically this year," Keskar spoke during a briefing organised by Boeing at the 2017 Aero India Airshow in Bangalore.

According to Keskar, Boeing continues to provide the airlines in India with the most fuel efficient and capable airplanes in every market segment.

"We look forward to delivering several more 787 Dreamliners to Air India this year and the 737 MAX to SpiceJet and Jet Airways in 2018," Keskar said.

Earlier, Boeing's 2016 India Current Market Outlook (CMO), had shown that the country's airlines would require 1,850 new airplanes, valued at $265 billion over the next 20 years.

As per the 2016 India CMO, single-aisle airplanes such as the Next-Generation 737 and 737 MAX will continue to account for the largest share of new deliveries, while wide-body airplanes such as the 787 Dreamliner and the 777 family, will make up for the remainder of demand.

--IANS

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