Is India becoming aviation’s next powerhouse?
Aviation Week has just published this article on whether India could become aviation’s next big powerhouse. MK Test Systems have been operating in the region for nearly 20 years, and have certainly seen a rise in opportunities – but is it as strong a growth as Aviation Week is suggesting?
The aviation sector in India is an extremely fast growing industry. According to IATA, India is currently the 9th biggest civil aviation market in the world, and is expected to reach third position by 2030. The Indian aviation industry is worth $16 billion at present.*
‘Muppi’ Muppidathy owns Visual Enterprises, one of our distributors in India for multiple sectors including aerospace. We asked his opinion on the article and the growing aviation industry in India – is it going to keep growing at this rate?
The short answer? A outright “yes”.
Muppi explained “India’s aviation sector growth is in full swing. The reasons for this are plentiful – low cost services, increased connectivity, technological and infrastructural improvements, increased international and domestic tourists, and also from the corporate sector – employees are also expected to access air travel more frequently in the future.”
India’s aviation policy is supporting growth
“With the help of the Make in India initiative, the aviation sector has received FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) investment offers from many foreign companies.” says Muppi.
India has reframed its aviation policy and allowed 100% FDI due to which nations like USA, France, UK, Germany and Singapore have shown their keen interest in India. The major aviation companies including The Boeing Company, Airbus, Rolls Royce and Fraport are all investing in the Indian aviation industry.
Record growth in the number of airports in India
The number of operational airports in the country has doubled in the last 9 years, increasing from 74 in 2014 to 148 in 2023. This is expected to increase to 220 by 2025.*
Jason Evans, MK Test’s Managing Director added “At MK, we’re especially excited about the growth in airlines and operators, as this creates an internal demand throughout both the OEM and MRO sector.”
Passenger demand
On the topic of passenger demand in India, Muppi commented “The country’s air passenger demand is continuously increasing with the increasing flow of tourism and other business activities. The domestic passenger market is actually growing faster than that of China and US.”
Passenger traffic and cargo traffic are continuously increasing. It is expected by Boeing that a demand of 1740 planes will arise in next 20 years. At the Paris Airshow earlier this year, India’s budget airline IndiGo placed an order of 500 A320neo aircraft from Airbus, making the multibillion-dollar deal the largest by a single carrier in civil aviation history.*
Summary
Jason Evans, MK Test Systems’ Managing Director summarised by saying: “MK have been supplying systems into India for nearly 20 years, supporting the aerospace, defence and rail industries on both local and international projects. We’ve already seen the development of Indian aerospace throughout our time operating in the country and are really looking forward to continue supporting the rapid growth in this important market.”
Muppi concluded “as a supplier in the Indian aerospace industry, I’m excited about the thriving aviation sector. The Make in India initiative has attracted substantial Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and the doubling of operational airports to 148 in the past 9 years reflects significant industry growth. With India set to become the world’s leading civil aviation market by 2030, there’s a major opportunity for us as suppliers.”
Want to learn more?
To find out more about our work in this sector, go to the aerospace page, or to our India locations page.
*Sources
Indian Aviation Industry, Aviation Companies in India – IBEF