Boeing, Airbus project high air traffic growth in India

"India is projected to have highest passenger traffic growth in the world. It will need 1,450 new planes through 2031 worth a total of up to USD 175 billion," said Dinesh A Keskar, Senior Vice President(Sales) while releasing the company's latest "India Current Market Outlook" here.

Last year, the company had forecast India would need 1,320 passenger planes worth USD 150 billion until 2030.

In a similar projection, Boeing's rival Airbus said in its 'Global Market Outlook' that "in value terms, the single biggest market (for new aircraft) is China followed by the US, the UAE and India." The report was released at Airbus headquarters in France today.

 

At a press conference here, the Boeing official said India would need 1,201 single aisle planes -- like next generation Boeing 737 and new 737 MAX, worth USD 114 billion, 234 twin aisle aircraft worth USD 61 billion and 15 regional jets at USD 0.5 billion.

Despite Boeing being the leader in wide-body long-haul fleet segment in India, Keskar said the country will not be ordering larger planes like Boeing 747s and 777s, indicating that domestic flying would grow substantially in the country in the near future. (MORE)