Foreign airlines flock to India, ignore global downturn

Mumbai: They are cutting flights to several destinations in the wake of a worldwide slump in business, but international airlines are doing just the opposite in India because they believe the country’s international air traffic will only grow in the coming years.
Interestingly, this comes even as the domestic aviation business is going through a downturn.
Large carriers already operating here such as British Airways and Emirates are either increasing the number of flights to Indian cities they already fly to, or beginning to fly to new cities, while smaller players such RAK Airways and Garuda Indonesia are starting to fly into the country.
India is seen as a growing market for international airline traffic and the current market size is nearly $5 billion (Rs21,000 crore) a year, said a senior official with a foreign airline.
“India, with its huge middle-class population of over 250 million, is like an untapped gold mine,” said K. Ravindran, chief operating officer, RAK Airways, which started operations in India from April, flying between Kozhikode and Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. “With its present international travel market not even covering 2% of the population, the country offers large opportunities for airlines. India is an important geographic area in all our future network plans.”
07/08/08 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Categories: Foreign Aug 2008, Indian Aviation- In General Aug 2008