Domestic air passenger volume in India is expected to treble to 300 million by 2030, according to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, speaking at the first session of the Wings India 2024 program in Hyderabad on January 18. In 2023, air passenger traffic totaled 153 million.
According to the Union Minister, domestic aviation traffic has reached a pre-COVID high. He stated that local passenger traffic on airlines has grown at a CAGR of 15% over the previous decade, while foreign travel has grown at a CAGR of 6.1 percent.
The statements come as the Indian government makes significant expenditures in airport infrastructure, along with rising demand, indicating an increase in discretionary spending.
“Today, India is the third-biggest domestic civil aviation market across the globe, the seventh-biggest global civil aviation industry in the world, and the fifth-biggest civil aircraft market in the world when domestic and international are combined,” Scindia added. Citing increased demand, Scindia stated, “We are getting ready for the future by creating capacities, removing bottlenecks, and streamlining procedures.”
Domestic and international freight has grown by 60% and 53%, respectively, during the previous 15 years.
“Over the previous 15 years, our local cargo traffic has increased by about 60%, while our foreign freight traffic has increased by around 53%. And it is our determined judgement, as well as that of industry advisors, that domestic traffic, which reached 153 million last year, compared to sixty million in 2014, will increase to 300 million by the year 2030,” he stated.
Scindia stated that the country’s fleet size had increased from 400 to more than 700.
“After the United States and China, India is now the world’s largest purchaser of aircraft. Our fleet size will increase from 713 to over 2,000 in the following decade.”
Noticing that 74 airports were established in 65 years, he stated that the government has modernized and constructed a further 75 airports, waterdromes, and heliports in the recent decade. “It is our goal to ensure that by 2030, we will have increased the total number from 149 to excess of 200 terminals, watersports, and helicopter bases in our country,” the minister added.
Scindia commemorated the event by introducing the Udan 5.3 project.