By the end of 2030, the domestic air passenger traffic is projected to reach up to 300 million and the government is in the process of pumping around $11 billion for the construction of new airports and expansion of the existing ones, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said in his address at the India and France Seminar on Monday.
The number of airports has doubled in India in the last year, from 74 to 157, Naidu told the gathering of visiting French aerospace industry association (GIFAS) delegation to give a sense into the scaling up of the aviation infrastructure.
The number of operational airports, stated the Minister, is expected to reach 200 by the end of 2025.
“We are on the path to establish another 200 airports in coming 20 to 25 years and the number will go up to 300 to 400. And if you look at other figures, the domestic air passenger in India has grown by 2.2 times in just the last ten years alone. The fleet size of scheduled airlines doubled to around 800 with the airlines placing order for 1,200 aircrafts in the coming years,” the Civil Aviation Ministry pointed out.
The major beneficiary would be India and France itself, he pointed out as Air India and Indigo together have placed orders for nearly 1,500 aircraft.
“I can proudly say that India is the third largest domestic aviation market in the world and one of the fastest growing aviation markets also in the world. No nation in the world is buying aircrafts as India,” he stated.
He also shared other policy initiatives of the Modi government to push the aviation industry, including the rationalisation of the GST upto 5 percent on aircraft components for strengthening the MRO landscape, enlarging regional conectivity and green initiatives to cut down carbon footprints in the sector.
Indo-French tie-up
To boost cooperation in the aerospace sector, France and India are planning to develop an aeronautics cluster, French Ambassador to India Thierry Mathou, who was also among one of the speakers at the seminar, said.
The French side is working with the Civil Aviation Ministry for the aeronautics cluster.
Insisting that the partnership between the two countries is not just “strategic” but “universal”, Thierry Mathou stated the exports of French aerospace companies to the country stood at 2.7 billion euros in the first half of 2024.
A GIFAS delegation of over 100 representatives from 60 French companies arrived New Delhi on Monday and over the next few days they would interact with individual companies as well as leading government organisation, like the ISRO, and the DRDO, to deepen cooperation with India in the defence and aerospace industry.
An MoU was also signed between the GIFAS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to explore industrial opportunities in both the countries. The other partners from the India in this grouping is the SIDM and Indian Space Association.
Guillaume Faury, chairman of GIFAS and CEO of Airbus, also spoke at the seminar and later addressed a press conference along with his two other colleagues from the association, and said his company is “engaged” and “active discussions” are on for a “complex project” of six Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) for the Indian Air Force.
This he said in a response to a query on the delay in negotiations for AEW&C systems, being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and have to be mounted on suitably modified Airbus A-321 aircraft. Air Chief Marshal A. P. Singh said last week that the project should be cleared by Defence Acquisition Council very soon.
Major General Abhay Dayal, Additional Director General Acquisition Technical (Army), said in the FY 2023, the bilateral trade between India and France reached 13.4 billion dollars which is a notable 7.27 percent increase from the previous year, he said. This growing economic synergy between India and France strongly supports India’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
The defence cooperation between India and France is also special and technically remains as the corner stone of the bilateral relations. The joint military exercises conducted by the Army, Navy and Air Force has not only enhanced the interoperability between the defence forces of both the countries but also underscored strength of our collaboration in defence modernisation, pointed out Maj General Dayal.