Indians to keep global aviation flying high

SEOUL: About half of the world’s air passenger growth in the next 20 years is set to come from India and China, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Sunday.“India and China alone are forecast to account for around 45% of all additional passenger trips over the next two decades. Even more than today, the travellers of the future will come from all walks of life and economic means,” said IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac.According to the data available with IATA, a grouping of around 290 airlines, India registered the highest year-on-year growth of about 19% in 2018, followed by China’s 13%. India’s growth has slowed, of late, though, owing to the grounding of the country’s largest private sector airline, Jet Airways, after it ran out of cash.Reposing confidence in the Indian market, IATA’s chief economist Brian Pierce said, “The decline in India’s passenger growth is temporary and the country will be back to its earlier levels, as there is demand in the Indian market. Also, a few airlines have started adding Jet Airway’s aircraft into their fleets.”SpiceJet and Vistara have taken some of Boeing 737 aircraft, operated earlier by Jet, on lease and are operating them on routes vacated by Jet. IATA also predicted that the profitability of airlines will take a hit on the back of rising fuel prices and weakening world trade.(The reporter is in Seoul at the invitation of IATA)

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2Wh1hJ3