Hyderabad: India’s domestic air traffic will touch 300 mn by 2030 says Jyotiraditya Scindia

Hyderabad : India’s domestic air passenger traffic is expected to reach 300 million by 2030, nearly a two-fold increase from the existing 153 million in 2023, said Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at the Wings India 2024 conference kickstarted in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Addressing the gathering at the Begumpet airport in the city, the minister said India’s civil aviation growth story is a shining star in the civil aviation landscape. “Despite tremendous growth in recent times, India still remains a highly under-penetrated market. Even if, as per projections, the number of domestic passengers reaches 300 million by FY 2030, India will still be one of the least penetrated of the 20 largest markets,” Scindia added. He claimed that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unprecedented steps were taken across the spectrum to create capacities, remove bottlenecks and simplify processes and procedures and ensure that in 2047, India has an aviation system that supports a US$20 trillion economy.

The Civil Aviation minister highlighted the achievements made by India in the civil aviation since Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was voted to power under the leadership of Narendra Modi in 2014.

In the last nine years, the number of airports in the country doubled from 74 in 2014 to 149 in 2023, he said, adding that by 2030 this number is expected to be increased to 200. The Central government has so far accorded ‘in-principle’ approval for setting up of 21 greenfield airports across the country out of which 12 have been already operationalised.

The minister said, “It is our aim to expand the capability of our heliports so that every district has a modern heliport.”

Apart from Tier 1 cities, the emphasis is being laid to expand operations to Tier 2 and 3 cities and creating more capacities in the metro cities as they are key to functioning of the hub and spoke model, he added. The throughput of six metro cities in India will move up from 261 million passengers to 420 million in the next four years with greenfield airports in Navi Mumbai and Jewar, near Delhi.

“Over the past 6 years, UDAN has unlocked the true potential of our country by promoting tourism, boosting trade, and empowering local economies. Airstrips and Airports languishing since the Second World War have been transformed under this scheme and are now giving wings to flyers in the remotest parts of the country.

More than 1.32 crore people have benefited from this scheme in more than 2.5 lakh flights. We have also provided VGF of almost Rs 3,100 crore, awarded 1,300 UDAN routes and operationalised 517 routes under the scheme,” he said.

The minister also highlighted the consistent efforts made by the government resulting in 19 states lowering value added tax on aviation turbine fuel to one to four percent.

He said, “In India today, 31 states and Union Territories levy one to five percent value added tax on aviation turbine fuel and only five outliers are left with a higher bracket.”