Commercial aviation will leverage India’s geographic, demographic and economic dividend to strongly deliver in the long-haul market.
The gloomy clouds of the COVID-19 pandemic are long gone and the aviation sector is all set to soar back into the skies to bask in its former glory. Prior to the pandemic India was a budding domestic aviation market expected to become the third-largest by the next decade. Even now, with the opening of international routes from March 27 and the government setting a target of creating 220 new airports by 2025, India has shown the world that it has grown significantly during the pandemic. The government intends to create 33 new domestic cargo terminals, set up 15 new flight training schools for pilots, create more jobs, and increase focus on the drone sector. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has ambitious plans to increase passenger throughput from 34.5 million in 2018-19 to 40 million in 2023-24.
Airbus predictions
Looking at the above figures, Airbus expects the domestic air travel in India to reach pre-Covid levels by mid-2022, while international travel traffic is expected to recover by next year. According to Airbus, the Indian aviation market will grow at 6.2 percent for the next 20 years, largely pushed by domestic traffic and nearby countries. It similarly expects the global aviation market to grow by 3.9 percent. This is a clear indication of a promising outlook and strong economic growth.
Before Covid-19 hit the business of aviation, the Indian market was growing consistently at double digits with traffic more than doubling from around 61 million in 2013-14 to around 137 million in 2019-20, registering a growth of over 14 percent per annum. India will soon replicate this performance in the international market in the next 20 years.
Indian airlines will order 2,210 aircraft in the next 20 years with 1,440 aircraft being narrowbodies.
“Just as the economy continues to improve, we believe traffic is going to go up here. This is going to drive the need for more aircraft. The fundamentals in general continue to improve. We are bullish where the market is going to go,” said Brent McBratney, Head of Airline Marketing, Airbus India and South Asia.
‘The widebody aircraft will bring a revolution
Commercial aviation will leverage India’s geographic, demographic and economic dividend to strongly deliver in the long-haul market. However so far India’s growth in the widebody fleet is almost stagnant. India only has 57 wide-body aircraft across its airline fleet, compared to 458 in China and 686 in the US. During the last 20 years, India’s single-aisle fleet multiplied by a factor of six but the wide-body fleet remained stagnant.
Airbus firmly believes that this situation will change soon and the next spurt of growth in India will come from widebodies.
Wide-bodied planes like A350XWB have larger fuel tanks that allow them to travel long distances compared to narrow-bodied aircraft like A320NEO. A350XWB aircraft can travel above 8,000 nautical miles, with a flying time of approximately 18 hours in one flight.
“We believe the A350 will trigger a tectonic shift, a change of paradigm in long-haul travel that matches the aspiration of India and its people. The A350 will play a strategic role in this transformation“, said Airbus India President, Remi Millard.
Airbus and Tatas
Airbus flew an A350 to three major Indian cities over the past three days, showcasing the jet to potential customers and media. On Tuesday, Ratan Tata, the Tata Group patriarch who was recently named chairman of Air India, also toured the plane, images posted on social media.
Airbus is pitching the A350 to Air India as the airline looks to revamp its fleet after a change of ownership from the government to Tatas.
When asked if Airbus is in talks with Tata and Indian carriers for the A350XWB aircraft deal, Maillard said, “We are obviously in talks with all airlines. The new owner of Air India, the Tatas are existing customers of Airbus. Tatas have Vistara and AirAsia India with them, as we know. We have developed a long-standing, trustful and respected relationship with the Tata Group.”
Prior to this Airbus had sold the A380 superjumbo to Kingfisher Airlines, but the airline went bankrupt and the order was cancelled, then again Jet Airways that operated the A330 also went bankrupt and Air India returned its A330 in the last decade.
This contrasts sharply with Airbus’ achievement in India’s narrowbody sector. IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., is the world’s biggest customer for A320neo jets, and the local affiliates of Singapore Airlines Ltd. and AirAsia all operate the A320 family. Tata Group is the majority owner in both of those ventures.
‘India – A rich source of skilled labour’
Apart from this Airbus has also unveiled a host of employment opportunities for leading-edge engineering and IT professionals in India. Airbus India is actively recruiting to fill positions in avionics software, aircraft system simulation, and airframe structures. Additionally, opportunities also exist in digital technology roles such as cybersecurity, API development, Full Stack Development, Big Data, Cloud and DevOps, and IoT.
Airbus currently supports 7000 jobs in India and is set to raise the number of engineering and IT positions to more than 2,000 by the end-2022, as part of its growth strategy for India. The recruitment plan for India is in line with Airbus’ growth forecast of around 6,000 new hires worldwide across the group.
