Aviation Industry

The Aviation sector in India currently contributes $72 bn to GDP. India has 464 airports and airstrips, of which 125 airports are owned by Airport Authority of India (AAI). These 125 AAI airports manage close to 78% of domestic passenger traffic and 22% of international passenger traffic. Passenger traffic in India stood at 316.51 mn during April 2018 - Feb 2019. Out of which domestic passenger traffic stood at 252.92 mn while international traffic stood at 63.59 mn. The aircraft movement, passenger traffic and freight traffic

increased by 4.9%, 4.5% and 3.1% respectively in February 2019 viz-a-viz February 2018, across all Indian airports taken together. However, the share of international cargo traffic is much higher at 68.5% in comparison with 31.5% of domestic cargo traffic.

Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) industry is expected to grow to $1.2 bn by 2020 from $950 mn currently.

The international airline industry provides service to virtually every corner of the globe, and has been an integral part of the creation of a global economy. The airline industry itself is a major economic force, both in terms of its own operations and its impacts on related industries such as aircraft manufacturing and tourism, to name but two. Few other industries generate the amount and intensity of attention given to airlines, not only among its participants but from government policy makers, the media, and almost anyone who has an anecdote about a particular air travel experience.

During much of its development, the global airline industry dealt with major technological innovations such as the introduction of jet airplanes for commercial use in the 1950s, followed by the development of wide-body “jumbo jets” in the 1970s. At the same time, airlines were heavily regulated throughout the world, creating an environment in which technological advances and government policy took precedence over profitability and competition. It has only been in the period since the economic deregulation of airlines in the United States in 1978 that questions of cost efficiency, operating profitability and competitive behavior have become the dominant issues facing airline management. With the US leading the way, airline deregulation or at least “liberalization” has now spread to much of the industrialized world, affecting both domestic air travel within each country and, perhaps more importantly, the continuing evolution of a highly competitive international airline industry.