According to Chief Commercial & Transformation Officer, Air India, Nipun Aggarwal, the Indian aviation business has huge potential that is only waiting to be realised. A growing middle class and a young population that is typically more likely to travel will support this market’s expansion. A “big boost for aviation” has also resulted from airport privatisation, as both new and existing airports in India are receiving significant investment.
Leaders in the aviation sector attended the Indian Travel Congress 2023, which was recently held in Colombo as part of efforts to increase tourism in the cash-strapped island nation, which included Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IndiGo, Pieter Elbers, CEO of SriLankan Airlines, Richard Nuttall, and Country Director for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Amitabh Khosla in India.
Both the aviation and tourism industries, which were severely impacted globally after the COVID-19 epidemic broke out but have shown resiliency and are on the right path to recovery, agreed that the expansion of one will fuel the other.
Nipun Aggarwal highlighted that Indian aviation is the third largest and fastest-growing market in the world, growing at almost 10% for the last decade, almost 2.5 times the global average.
He was speaking in a panel discussion on ‘India Tourism Vision 2047: A Transformed Landscape of Experiences and Connections’, held as part of the 67th annual convention of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI)-Indian Travel Congress, in the Sri Lankan capital from July 6-9, 2023.
India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, the disposable income of middle and high-income households is rising much faster than the national average. India is going to have one of the largest young populations in the world, which usually has a greater propensity to travel.
In a speech at an aviation summit in Delhi in March, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia highlighted the potential of exponential growth and noted that while India is the third-largest domestic market in the world in terms of seat capacity, the country is still ranked 18th in terms of international seat capacity. As a result, the ministry stated that there was a very good chance of the market experiencing long-term, steady growth.
