Indians fly less than Chinese, Americans and even Sri Lankans

New Delhi: About 1000 Indians accustomed to air travel, perform nearly 20 trips in a year as against 60 in China and 2300 in United States. This comparison clearly reveals that aviation has not made much penetration amongst Indians, if you look at global flying trends. This was brought out in the latest study jointly carried out by Assocham and Ernst & Young.
The study points out that India is one of the least penetrated markets for air travel as it is among the most expensive in the world with air penetration levels lower than even its neighbours like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and countries with poorer GDP like Ethiopia and Nigeria.
Some of the reasons for lower aviation penetration
* Absence of proper infrastructure including international airports, domestic aerodrome conveniences, air control and navigational facilities.
* Top five airports in India account for over 70% traffic and the top 25 account for almost 95% of air traffic in India. These airports have limited facilities leading to high traffic congestion at the airports.
* The feeder routes segment in Indian aviation still remains highly under served.
* The regional market has been treated as an adjunct to the trunk routes with the result that convenient flights are not available on a large majority of such routes leaving a significant potential market in tier-II cities.
27/08/07 livemint.com

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Categories: General Aviation Aug 2007