New Delhi: Lightson Ngashangva still remembers the long train journeys followed by interminable bus rides each summer when he went home from New Delhi to his village in India's remote northeast.
Now, when the 26-year-old biotechnology student visits his home in Manipur state, his nearly three-day long journey by train and bus has been reduced to a four-hour flight.
A fast-growing economy and an expanding middle class have made India the world's fastest growing air travel market. The number of passengers grew 20 percent last year and airlines are announcing flights to new destinations almost every week.
And yet, Indian airlines are in distress. Experts say the explosion in air travel of the past decade has happened despite major hurdles in the form of high jet fuel prices, lack of aircraft maintenance infrastructure, choked airports working beyond their capacities and fierce fare wars that have many carriers in the red.
Although the problems appear huge, the size and potential of the Indian market continues to draw new players and several foreign airlines have also entered the market.
18/02/16 Nirmala George/Associated Press/Seattlepi
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Now, when the 26-year-old biotechnology student visits his home in Manipur state, his nearly three-day long journey by train and bus has been reduced to a four-hour flight.
A fast-growing economy and an expanding middle class have made India the world's fastest growing air travel market. The number of passengers grew 20 percent last year and airlines are announcing flights to new destinations almost every week.
And yet, Indian airlines are in distress. Experts say the explosion in air travel of the past decade has happened despite major hurdles in the form of high jet fuel prices, lack of aircraft maintenance infrastructure, choked airports working beyond their capacities and fierce fare wars that have many carriers in the red.
Although the problems appear huge, the size and potential of the Indian market continues to draw new players and several foreign airlines have also entered the market.
18/02/16 Nirmala George/Associated Press/Seattlepi
