Chandrayaan success: Blueprint for turning India into aircraft manufacturing hub
In 2009-10, India’s civil aviation sector, including both scheduled and non-scheduled airlines, recorded just under 44 billion revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) - the total distance flown multiplied by the total number of fare-paying passengers. In 2022-23, Indigo airlines alone recorded more than double that figure, a staggering 93.9 billion RPK. That is a telling statistic that underlines the radical transformation of India’s civil aviation industry.
For that matter, Indigo logged 29 billion RPK in the first quarter of the current fiscal. As the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market, India has seen its domestic air traffic soar 60% to 136 million passengers in FY23, inching closer to its pre-pandemic peak of 145 million in FY20. By next year, it is expected to overtake the UK to become the world’s third largest aviation market overall, three years ahead of a forecast by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In fact, Union minister for civil aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that India will become the world’s largest aviation market by the end of this decade. The Airports Authority of India, which operates a bulk of the 147 airports in the country, is among world’s largest airports operators. The collective fleet strength of Indian airlines recently crossed 700 aircraft, which the number expected to more than to around 2,000 within five years.
Currently, the Air India group and Indigo stand as the world's largest customers for passenger aircraft. Air India's record-setting order of 470 aircraft was swiftly outdone by Indigo's 500-plane contract with European manufacturer Airbus. Indian carriers have more than 1,100 aircraft currently on order, marking the highest tally for any country
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