A Sparkling Summit

The CAPA India Aviation Summit was a high-quality industry event that had all the movers and shakers in attendance. A special report.

A summit of substance

After many years, India had an aviation summit worth crowing about. The CAPA India aviation summit (March 20-22) was an outstanding event with all the A-listers (if one can be permitted to use a very Hollywoodish phrase)' in attendance. From home, you had the Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal and the CEO of every major airline. The overseas galaxy was led by the redoubtable Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates and others including the CEO of Turkish Airlines and Jazeera in Kuwait.

India to grow at 20 per cent

PA Kicking off the event CAPA said that Indian airlines will on a net basis add 132 planes next year, taking the total fleet of all carriers to around 816. While announcing its outlook for 2023-24, CAPA India also said more than 100 planes are on the ground because of supply chain and other issues.

Domestic traffic will increase around 20 per cent year-on-year to 160 million passengers in FY24 while international traffic will be up 22-27 per cent to 72-75 million. "Increased capacity deployment by low-cost carriers on international routes will significantly stimulate traffic," it said.

CAPA India said that the country would see a big boom in the aviation sector within the next few years with air passenger traffic rising to 860 million within 2030 and airport operators expected to see a rise of 26 per cent or $3.9 billion in the next financial year

It also added that the Indian airports' revenue of $ 3.9 billion (Rs 32,390 crore) in the next fiscal will be 26 per cent higher than that anticipated in 2022-23.

CAPA India expects at least 1,300 more orders from Indian airlines in the next 1-2 years. But it warned that the cyclical industry could move back into 'surplus' territory very quickly.