Boeing, the world's second-biggest commercial aircraft maker, has raised India's 20-year aircraft sales outlook by 10 per cent on expectation of a rise in travel demand.
Boeing projected a demand for 1,001 aircraft from 2008 to 2027, which is worth more than $105 billion at current list prices of aircraft around 10 per cent more than its last year's outlook for 2007-2026, which stood at 911 aircraft.
Of these, 24 will be freighter aircraft while the rest will be passenger planes.
"We have developed the forecast in a manner that considers today's market environment but, more importantly, takes a long-term view of this dynamic industry and the fundamentals that drive commercial aviation," Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales), Boeing, said in New Delhi.
As many as 313.72 million people are expected to travel by air by 2012 from the present level of 116 million, KPMG said in a report in June. Record economic growth and introduction of discount carriers have made air travel more affordable in India, the world's second fastest-growing major economy.
The 2008 outlook for India included 59 regional jets, 728 single aisle, 203 twin aisle and 11,747 and larger aircraft. Compared with last year's forecast, Boeing projected a 9 per cent increase in demand for single aisle aircraft and 18 per cent increase in demand for twin aisle aircraft.
Boeing is raising its sales outlook even as Indian carriers are expected to double their combined losses this year because of higher fuel costs. Airlines in India may post a loss of $1.5 billion this year, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an industry consultant, predicted last month.
Airbus SAS, the world's biggest plane maker, said in May that India is now among the weakest airliner markets.
The nation's carriers may cancel or delay plane contracts in the next 12 months, said John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer and top salesman.
Pointing out overcapacity as the largest problem facing the Indian aviation industry currently, Keskar said that there were several ways of rectifying the situation which including redeploying aircraft in secondary areas as well as deployment of more aircraft in international routes by carriers like Jet Airways.
Talking about deliveries to Indian carriers, Keskar said that the delivery schedule was such that very few aircraft would be delivered to carriers next year. Boeing has an order book of 164 aircraft worth $25 billion from Air India (68 aircraft), Jet Airways (63 aircraft) Spice Jet (30) and the Indian Air Force (3 aircraft).
