Airlines in India and other South Asian countries are expected to add a combined 2,835 new commercial aircraft to their fleets over the next 20 years to meet the rising demand for air travel, US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said on Thursday. The company stated that it will maintain a delivery rate of about two aircraft a month through 2024 and 2025.
Boeing’s statement on anticipated growth and its dispatches comes at a time when its India clients – mainly Tata Group’s Air India and Akasa Air – are facing a delay in plane delivery. As per reports, Boeing’s deliveries fell to the lowest level in 2024 since the COVID-19 pandemic due to a strike in its US facility. The company had said last month that it was making progress on increasing aircraft production.
In its latest Commercial Market Outlook (CMO), Boeing said that continued growth will be fueled by greater demand and a rise in the region’s air traffic, which will grow more than 7% annually through 2043. The CMO predicts that domestic air traffic is expected to remain the largest and fastest-growing segment in India.
“The India and South Asia region continues to be the world’s fastest-growing commercial aviation market due to strong economic and trade growth, rising household incomes and investments in infrastructure and development,” said Ashwin Naidu, Boeing managing director of Commercial Marketing for India and South Asia.
Boeing also highlighted some of the key headwinds India’s aviation sector has to navigate through. These headwinds are jet fuel volatility, currency pressures, and lower fare levels in comparison to global averages. Boeing also raised concern over slow growth in Infrastructure compared to market growth and market share imbalance of domestic carriers in International long-haul routes.
Fuel-efficient single-aisle airplanes, such as the 737 MAX, will account for nearly nine out of 10 commercial jet deliveries in the forecast period, as per the CMO. It stated that the region’s widebody fleet will quadruple as carriers leverage airplanes like the 787 Dreamliner and 777X to further develop long-haul networks, particularly from India to North America, where capacity has doubled in the past decade.
Boeing also said that demand for pilots, cabin crew and technicians will quadruple to 129,000 along with commercial airplane fleet expansion ─ representing the fastest growth rate of any region globally.