Categories: Travel

India needs over 2,500 new aircraft by 2042, says Boeing outlook, ET TravelWorld

Visitors gathered near a Boeing 777X aircraft displayed during the ‘Wings India 2024’, an exhibition and conference on civil aviation, at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad on January 18, 2024.

Backed by high traffic growth, India will need more than 2,500 new aircraft deliveries by 2042, Darren Hulst, Boeing vice-president of Commercial Marketing said on Friday. Addressing a press conference, Hulst said to meet the rising passenger and cargo demand, South Asian carriers are projected to quadruple the size of their fleets over the next two decades and they will require more than 2,705 new airplanes to address growth and fleet replacement. “Over 92 per cent of that (2,705) or over 2,500 (aircraft India will need) by 2042. It is based on the (forecast given in) middle of the last year,” he told reporters.

“We project that carriers here (South Asia including India) will need more than 2,700 aircraft deliveries by the year 2042,” he said, adding a similar composition of the fleet with more than 2,300 single aisle, nearly 400 wide body aircraft for long haul would be needed.

According to Boeing, India is the only large economy, a large market in Asia that has evolved to pre-pandemic levels both domestically and internationally in terms of demand.

That reflects how important air travel is in the marketplace, also the strength of the Indian economy and how connected a traveller is to continued growth, he further said.

This marks a historic achievement, as Akasa Air becomes the first Indian airline to reach an order book exceeding 200 aircraft within just 17 months of commencing operations. The order, consisting of 737 MAX 10 and 737 MAX 8-200 jets, is a testament to the airline’s robust financial foundation and the confidence Boeing places in Akasa Air’s future.

He said it is expected that the India cargo fleet will go up to 80 airplanes over the next 20 years as against the 15 freighter aircraft now. Replying to a query if there are any delays in aircraft deliveries following the recent incident of a Boeing aircraft’s door being blown off mid-air in the USA, Hulst said “We don’t anticipate any delays.”

He said the forecast focus of the company is, not numbers, but on quality without compromising on schedule in order to get that.

He further said there would be an additional layer of scrutiny.