‘Aviation sector galvanised in last decade’: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

NEW DELHI: Aviation is all set to get a big boost in India, the world’s fastest growing air traffic market. Given the potential of air travel here, Tata Group’s Air India, IndiGo and Akasa have ordered a record 1,120 aircraft worth $140 billion at list price.

“The aviation sector has been galvanised in the past 10 years... Indian carriers have proactively placed orders for over 1,000 new aircraft. Expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously,” FM Nirmala Sitharaman said in her interim Budget.

“Number of airports have doubled to149. Roll out of air connectivity to tier-two and tier-three cities under UDAN (ude desh ka aam naagrik) scheme has been widespread. Five hundred and seventeen new routes are carrying 1.3 crore passengers,” she said.

Last February, Air India had ordered470 aircraft — 400 single aisles and 70 twin aisles — worth $70 billion at list price. AI also has options and purchase rights for another370 planes over the next decade, meaning it can convert these to firm orders if it chooses to do so. A few months later, in June 2023, IndiGo ordered 500single aisles worth $50 billion at list price. And last month, Akasa ordered 150 single aisles worth over $20 billion at list price. At 1,120 this is the largest ever order placed by resurgent Indian carriers within 11 months thanks to the aviation growth the country is witnessing

.At the current growth rate, India expects to double its domestic air passenger traffic to 300 million per annum by 2030 from 153 million in 2023. The number of airports, waterdromes and heliports, which stood at 74 in 2014, has grown to 149 and is all set to cross 200 by 2030.