- SUMMARY
- Akasa Air Co-Founder Aditya Ghosh has high hopes with the Indian aviation industry.
- Ghosh was earlier with IndiGo and is currently with a Chennai-based air taxi manufacturer named ePlane.
- He predicts a supply constraint in Indian aviation in coming years.
Aditya Ghosh, who has joined forces with Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube to launch India’s newest major airline has high hopes for the Indian aviation industry. Currently, Ghosh is the Co-Founder at Akasa Air. He is the man, who can be attributed majorly to the success of India’s largest airline- IndiGo. Since its inception, he has been with IndiGo airlines. He left the airline in 2018 when Ronojoy Dutta took over the role of CEO.
Railways Carry Yearly Air Traffic in One Day
Aditya Ghosh, the Co-Founder of Akasa Air believes that there is a huge potential in the Indian aviation sector. He compared the figures of Indian airlines to Indian railways. In his words, the number of passengers who travel by air in India yearly is equal to the number of passengers Indian Railways transports in a single day.
We can understand the words and sentiments of Mr Ghosh, but this statement is a bit inflated. Indian Railways carries around 24 million passengers on a daily basis. On the other hand, Indian airlines in 2023 catered to 152 million passengers, as per DGCA data. This means that the number of passengers traveling by air in a year is equivalent to the number of passengers traveling by rail in a week.
Ghosh further added that if airlines have to carry passengers equivalent to Indian railways in a single day, there would be a requirement of 500 more aircraft.
Supply is Not Enough
Ghosh highlighted the growing GDP of India. The Indian aviation industry is growing at twice the rate of the GDP. With time, the passenger numbers are increasing. To keep up with this demand, airlines in India will need around 75 aircraft by next year.
Although airlines have placed huge orders, the delivery timeline is stretched. Ghosh said that there are already more than 1,500 planes on order, but they will be delivered within a decade. Also, many will join the fleet as replacement aircraft. Hence, the supply is not keeping up with the demand. The demand is way too much, and the supply is not enough. This denotes that for a long time, there will be a huge gap between the number of passengers wanting to travel and the number of available seats on sale.
Such a scenario where demand exceeds supply may lead to potential issues such as higher ticket prices and limited availability of flights. In India, three airlines have placed orders for more than 1000 aircraft. IndiGo has more than 970 aircraft on order, while Air India and Akasa Air have 470 and 200+ jets on order respectively.
It has been more than three months since Akasa Air received delivery of any aircraft. The last aircraft was delivered on 10 February 2024, when VT-YAX reached India. Currently, one Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 is under production. It will be registered as VT-YBB.
Akasa Air Co-Founder Says: India Needs More Airports
To highlight the need for more airports in India, Aditya Ghosh compared the Indian aviation industry to America. In the US, the population is 330 million, but there are around 1,400 airports. On the other hand, India with a population of 1.4 billion people has 180 airports.
Ghosh took this one step ahead and compared the airlines of US and India. In the US, a single airline like Southwest, United, Delta, or American has a fleet of more than 1,000 aircraft. On the other hand, the entire fleet of all Indian airlines does not exceed 700 aircraft. This means that the Indian aviation industry will need to double its scale if it has to match the capacity of just 1 US airline.
This shows the immense potential of Indian aviation. There is a need for more airports in India. Fortunately, the country is on the right track. Ghosh commended the current government’s work related to improving aviation infrastructure. With huge orders and major airports getting ready for launch, Indian aviation will witness a new era in the coming years.
Growth to Continue
Indian aviation is the fastest-growing aviation market in the world. IndiGo has spread its roots strong in the market domestically and is now looking to spread internationally. It has recently placed an order for 30 Airbus A350 jets, with the first delivery expected in 2027. Other airlines like Air India and Akasa Air are slowly watering their domestic roots strengthening their network. At the same time, they are also expanding internationally.
According to rating agency ICRA, the aviation market in India is anticipated to grow by 8-10% in FY25. In FY24, airlines in India catered to 307 million passengers. In FY25, this number is expected to peak at 340 million. It is a sharp jump when compared to numbers in FY23 when airlines carried 270 million passengers.
As per the same report, airports in India have recovered from the pandemic with a higher growth rate than their global competitors. Globally, airports have achieved 94% of the pre-pandemic traffic, while Indian airports have already surpassed the numbers achieving 106% growth.
Conclusion: Thoughts of Akasa Air Co-Founder
Akasa Air Co-Founder and former IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh has high hopes for Indian aviation. He said that if airlines had to cater to single-day traffic of Indian railways, they would need 500 more aircraft. For a long time, a supply gap is expected. Demand will exceed the supply. He advocates for the requirement of more airports in India. He said that in order to achieve the scale of a single US airline, Indian aviation will need to double its fleet.
Do you agree with the views of Aditya Ghosh? If not, add your opinion in the comment section.
With Inputs From Business Today
Featured Image Credits: Akasa Air via Facebook
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