INDIAN AVIATION INDUSTRY AT A GLANCE IN 2021- 2022 The civil aviation industry in India has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in the country during the last few years. India is the third largest domestic aviation market in the world and is expected to overtake the UK to become the third largest air passenger market by 2024. India is expected to overtake China and the United States as the world's third-largest air passenger market in the next ten years, by 2030, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
India’s passenger traffic stood at 131.62 million in FY22 (from April to December 2021). Domestic passenger and international passenger traffic declined at a CAGR of -9.02% and -28.64%, respectively, from FY16 to FY21, owing to Covid-related flight restrictions. In FY21, airports in India pegged the domestic passenger traffic to be around 105.2 million, a 61.7% YoY decline, and international passenger traffic to be around 10.1 million, an 84.8% YoY decline, over the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. Between FY16 and FY21, freight traffic declined at a CAGR of 1.77% from 2.70 million tonnes (MT) to 2.47 MT.
Future ProspectsTo cater to the rising air traffic, the Government of India has been working towards increasing the number of airports. As of 2020, India had 153 operational airports. India has envisaged increasing the number of operational airports to 190-200 by FY40. The number of airplanes is expected to reach 1,100 planes by 2027.
Industry InvestmentsAccording to the data released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), FDI inflow in India’s air transport sector reached US$ 3.06 billion between April 2000 and June 2021.
