As reported by ET Manufacturing and the Times of India, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu sees the aviation industry as a key growth engine for the entire country. At the CII Partnership Summit, he emphasized that India has rapidly become the world's third-largest aviation market – a trend that is set to continue.
The aerospace manufacturing market is currently worth around US$2 billion. By 2030, this is expected to grow to US$4 billion. Naidu emphasized that India is well on its way to achieving this goal, pointing to the growing investment opportunities in aircraft component manufacturing.
Since 2014, the number of airports in the country has risen from 74 to 164. This development is also reflected in passenger statistics: the number of domestic passengers rose from 180,000 per day in 2014 to an average of 460,000 today. On November 10, 2024, a new record was set with 530,000 passengers in one day.
Over the past ten years, the number of flights has almost doubled – both nationally and internationally. The number of domestic passengers climbed from 67 million (2014) to 72 million (2024), while the number of international passengers rose from 25 million to 72 million. The number of domestic flights increased from 600,000 to 1.1 million per year during the same period.
Naidu announced further measures to modernize and expand the infrastructure. These include the introduction of a hub-and-spoke model: large airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata are to serve as central hubs in the future. Smaller airports will complement these with direct connections. In addition, airports will be divided into mega, medium, and small categories in the future, depending on their size and regional demand.
The government is aiming for annual growth of 10 to 12 percent in the aviation sector, while improving service quality and introducing forward-looking technologies.
