Boeing Sees Demand for 2,200 Jets in India

Feb. 14—NEW DELHI — As Air India placed a record order of about 540 aircraft with Boeing and Airbus on the same day, the American aircraft maker has estimated that India will require approximately 2,210 new planes over the next two decades, of which 1,983 units or 90% of deliveries will be for single-aisle jets, while 227 units or 10% of new aircraft deliveries will be for wide-body aeroplanes, Boeing India president Salil Gupte said in an interview.

The aircraft manufacturer also expects Indian airlines to add 7% more capacity in the first half of 2023, as compared to 2019. Due to the rapid growth of its domestic traffic, Boeing forecasts that 90% of new plane deliveries to India will be for single-aisle like the 737 MAX over the next 20 years. The outlook also sees the addition of 80 cargo jets over the next 20 years.

Gupte said that while the growth in e-commerce in India is driving the expansion in narrow-body freighters over the near term, wide-body freighters will also come to India over a longer period of time for industry-driven cargo as this makes for a business case to non-aviation companies as well. For now, Boeing is also looking at creating an ecosystem with maintenance, repair, and operations, engineering, customer support and continues to evaluate the possibility of civil aviation manufacturing in India. "The business case for civil aviation final assembly is very different from the business case of defence ones. For civil aviation, the business case has to incorporate customer demand globally and in the region, the pricing which you negotiate with every airline customer separately. So, the pricing for planes for customers requires significant scale for final assembly, and that's why we produce at such significant rates at our final assembly line in the US," he said.

Boeing is also working with the Centre and other stakeholders in the area of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The Centre is working on mandating a percentage of green fuel which will have to be used by airlines in India. "One critical area that India must move into and invest in terms of infrastructure and capability is SAF. We are working with the petroleum ministry to create India's indigenous SAF to power Indian planes," he said.

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