Boeing predicts 1740 aircraft sales till 2035 in India

Boeing Commercial Aircraft Senior Vice President for Asia-Pacific and India Dinesh Keskar said at a press event earlier today that India would require over 1740 aircraft over the next 20 years worth over $240 billion. This was according to the American manufacturers Current Market Outlook. The forecast by Boeing foresees India becoming the world’s third largest economy by 2035 and a corresponding rise in air travel both domestic and international. 

“There were 66 million passengers on domestic routes in India in 2014, in the first half of 2015 there has been a 21 percent climb in domestic air travel. While the number of available seat kilometers is up slightly, revenues for airlines is up at a higher rate due to higher load factors”, Keskar told the briefing and predicted that in 2015 Boeing expects the domestic market to touch 75 million passengers.

Keskar also highlighted the fact that the Maintenance and Repair (MRO) base that the company set up for air India as part of the offset deal on the purchase of Boeing aircraft a decade ago is finally operational and “is one of the finest MRO bases in the world and will be able to undertake the most complex aircraft checks.”

Boeing was also positive about SpiceJet which is their biggest customer for their best-selling 737 aircraft. “SpiceJet’s recent results have been very positive and after meeting with their executives over the past few days. They have over 42 of our new 737-MAX aircraft on order and these will be delivered in the next few years. What happened to SpiceJet was really unfortunate but I feel that Ajay (Singh) has the airline pointing in the right direction again.”