During the inaugural session of the Wings India 2024 event in Hyderabad on January 18, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia revealed ambitious plans for India’s aviation sector, predicting a doubling of domestic air passenger traffic to 300 million by 2030. In 2023, the country recorded 153 million air passengers.
Scindia highlighted that domestic air traffic has not only rebounded from the pre-COVID period but has also shown robust growth, with a 15 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the last decade, compared to international air traffic’s 6.1 per cent CAGR.
India currently stands as the third-largest domestic civil aviation market globally, the seventh-largest international civil aviation market, and the fifth-largest when combining both domestic and international operations, according to Scindia. Moreover, in the last 15 years, domestic cargo witnessed a growth of 60 per cent international at 53 per cent.
Despite this optimistic outlook, challenges loom on the horizon, with Go First’s collapse and major carriers like IndiGo, Air India, and SpiceJet grounding around 160 aircraft until December 2023.
This has raised concerns about capacity constraints, potentially impeding the airlines’ ability to meet the surging demand. In response, Scindia assured that the government is proactively preparing for potential challenges by enhancing capacities, addressing bottlenecks, and simplifying procedures.