All Set for the Connected Traveller

India aviation has been lagging behind its global counterparts as far as adoption and introduction of new technology. But all that is set to change with most airlines and airports increasing IT spending in 2017 to meet rapid passenger growth. A report

Airlines and airports in India are expected to rapidly ramp up their spend on new technology over the next three years to keep up with surging growth which will see passenger traffic double to 370 million by 2020. The growth will position India as the world's third largest aviation market.

To meet this demand airlines and airports are investing in technology to help bridge the capacity gap and accommodate more passengers. According to SITA’s 2016 India IT Trends Benchmark study, released recently at the India ICT Aviation Forum 2016, all airlines in India expect to see IT budgets increase in 2017 compared to 2016. This contrasts markedly with global airline confidence on future IT budgets, with just over half expecting an increase while around a third will see no change in 2017. The remainder globally are braced for lower budgets.

​Airports in India are similarly positive about IT spending with 80 per cent of airports expecting an IT budget increase in 2017 over 2016. This compares to 58 per cent of airports globally who expect an increase next year.