Indian aviation sector can touch US industry in next 20 years, say industry experts
The Indian aviation sector has survived the pandemic years and has immense potential to grow in the next 10 to 15 years. This was the view of the experts who came together to discuss on Skybound Futures - Charting the Course of Indian Aviation and its Synergy with Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality, on Day 1 of the BW HOTELIndian Hospitality Summit and Awards 2023.
The discussion was moderated by Kapil Kaul, CEO & Director, CAPA India, who gave an inner view of the aviation sector. In his presentation, Kaul mentioned that in the last 15 years, 275 million domestic passengers have been handled by the Indian airports. There have been four major breakdowns in the aviation industry yet international traffic has grown 8.5 times and domestic traffic by 4.5 times till 2019. Kaul said that India became the third largest domestic aviation market in 2020. Presenting the forecast for the industry, he said that by FY 2030, the domestic traffic growth is expected to go from 160 million to 350 million. Between Air India and Indigo, there are expected to be around 1,100 to 1,200 aircraft and the Indian aviation industry is expected to be closer to the US industry in the next 20 years.
Mohammad Sarhan, VP (India & Nepal), Emirates, shared about the Dubai model of collaborations which has made Dubai the number one destination. “Dubai Airport is number 1 globally and it doesn’t happen by coincidence. The Dubai government always thinks like a startup and it is incredible to see how they manage all the stakeholders. For example everything at the airport like security, immigration work in sync. Whenever they are planning something, they all sit on one table and they have one direction to work out things,” said Sarhan.
Citing examples, he said, “Recently we have started contactless travel where the whole process from check-in to boarding you can check on your mobile. You pass through the immigration tunnel, and it is done. Security nowadays is also different. If you have a laptop, you do not have to remove it. You just put it there and seamlessly walk through all the way. Dubai can be a role model for that.” He added that Indians are still the number one visitor to Dubai. “Dubai has been voted as the best destination in the world and our focus is to get repeat customers.”
Ashwani Lohani, Former CMD at Air India and ITDC, and former Chairman of the Railway Board, spoke about how he views the change of Air India. “We tried and did the expansion to San Francisco, to Washington, to Toronto. We did an experiment as this market exists and everyone wants to travel directly. There are many markets that need to be exploited and there is a huge potential for markets like New Zealand and Australia,” said Lohani.
Talking about the growth of the market, Lohani said, “There are currently 700 aircraft, and the industry can easily absorb around 2,000 more. Lot of traffic is ready to migrate to the skies. The growth is expected to be three to four times in the next 10-15 years.” When asked about what India needs to do for this growth, he said that the growth will be fuelled by airport expansion and as more and more airports are coming up across India, this growth will be seen booming.
