India needs 2,210 new planes to meeting growing air traffic: Boeing

New Delhi: India will require around 2,210 new planes in the next two decades and out of them, 1,983 units will be single-aisle jets, Boeing said on Tuesday as it projected a nearly 7 per cent annual domestic air traffic growth through 2041. Unveiling its 2022 Commercial Market Outlook (CMO) for India, Boeing said that largely driven by the strength of the domestic market, which has recovered to 98 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels, the country’s traffic has transitioned from recovery to growth. The domestic market growth is expected to double by the end of this decade.
“Indian airlines will add 7% more supply in the first half of 2023, compared to 2019. Due to the rapid growth of its domestic traffic, Boeing forecasts that 90% of new airplane deliveries to India will be for single-aisle airplanes like the 737 MAX over the next 20 years,” it said in a release.
The aircraft maker has forecast long-term passenger growth rate of nearly 7% annually through 2041.
Boeing said India will require approximately 2,210 new airplanes over the next two decades of which 1,983 units will be for single-aisle jets while 227 units or 10% of new deliveries will be for wide-body airplanes.
The country’s air cargo market is also projected to expand over the next two decades, with the fleet expected to increase from 15 planes today to around 80 aircraft by 2041.
These will predominantly be the converted narrow-body sized aircraft to support domestic and regional growth, as well as a number of production and conversion wide-body freighters to support global operations, the release said.
Boeing noted that the demand for commercial services to support fleet replacement is valued at $135 billion.
“The Indian market is recovering rapidly and its domestic capacity has exceeded 2019 levels, with domestic traffic expected to double by the end of this decade.
“Indian carriers will outpace global growth at nearly 7% and more than 80% of new airplane deliveries to this market will be for growth while 20% of new airplanes will be for replacement of aging jets,” Dave Schulte, Boeing Commercial Marketing Managing Director for Asia Pacific, said.