Aviation Diaries Day 1

#100daychallenge

The aviation sector contributes around 1.5% to India’s GDP, and India is the 3rd largest air transport market in terms of departing original-destination passenger traffic. (This is a person’s trip from their starting city to their destination, not counting the layovers. For example, if I go from Mumbai to London to the USA, it is counted as one original destination trip. Despite being a lower-middle-income country, with approximately 90% of passenger travel occurring through trains, we have the third-largest volume of passengers. Hard to believe, right? But we still have a long way to go to catch up to the USA and China, which accounted for 18.1% and 16.7% of the world’s Original-destination passenger traffic, as compared to India’s 4.2%.

Post COVID-19, both international and domestic air travel are on the rise. A larger number of people have started travelling for business and recreational purposes; the numbers reinforce this: Original-destination (O-D) departures in India (2024) were 3.4 times that of 2011, indicating a CAGR of 9.87%; Delhi is now the 7th busiest airport in the world, compared to the 29th busiest airport in 2011. 

 To meet this increasing demand, Airlines are doing the following things: 

·      Flying more frequently and spending less time on the ground.

·      Flying larger planes with a greater number of seats

·      Adding more domestic and international destinations and improving connectivity.

Historically and at present, domestic routes have had a greater number of passengers and flights, compared to their international counterparts (78% passengers for domestic locations compared to 22% for international locations). Nevertheless, both domestic and international air travel are growing at a staggering pace post-COVID-19. However, this is not the end. Ninety per cent of Indians have yet to experience the skies for the first time, leaving much room for growth.

Stay tuned for more updates on this amazing sector.

by Laksh Karrn Ranglani