Hyderabad: The union budget might have brought some cheer to the airlines industry but the government would have to take some bold decisions and fast-track reforms to remove bottlenecks for India to emerge as the world's third largest aviation market by 2020.
Notwithstanding the bullish sentiment expressed by both small players and global giants like Boeing and Airbus on the future of the Indian aviation market during the India Aviation-2012, the stakeholders undeniably are concerned about the state of affairs and want the government to act fast.
Terming as ‘air pocket' and ‘temporary' the current troubles faced by the aviation sector, experts say the country is poised to witness a phenomenal growth in the backdrop of mega trends of rapid urbanisation and burgeoning middle class with disposal incomes. The passenger traffic is projected to triple from 150 million in 2010 to 450 million by 2020. Over the last decade it increased threefold from 42 million in 2000.
However, the universal refrain was that the operational costs were unacceptably high in India as compared to international benchmarks. Mainly fuelled by the price of ATF these costs were stated to be 40-60 per cent higher in India as against 25 per cent elsewhere. Boeing India president Dinesh A. Keskar, without mincing words, said the air carriers would be left with no option but to hike the fares by 15 per cent in the near future to sustain themselves.
19/03/12 Y Mallikarjun/The Hindu
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