India's domestic air passenger traffic will double to 300mn by 2030, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on 18 January.
Domestic air travel serves as an indicator of jet fuel demand. India's demand for jet fuel demand rose by 15pc from a year earlier to 174,000 b/d in 2023, petroleum ministry data show.
India's domestic air passenger traffic hit a record high of 152mn passengers in 2023, up by 23pc from 123mn in 2022, data from the civil aviation ministry show. The rise has reflected the sector's recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, aided by rising air travel demand and improving airport infrastructure.
"Today our penetration is roughly about 3-4pc," Scindia said. "That will grow to about 10-15pc. We still have 85pc penetration to go." The government is working towards this by creating capacity, he added, removing bottlenecks and simplifying procedures in the sector.
The Indian government also aims to increase the number of airports, waterports and heliports to over 200 by 2030 from 149 currently, Scindia said. He added that India's fleet size will increase from 713 to over 2,000 by 2034, with India becoming the third-largest buyer of aircraft behind the US and China.
Domestic air passenger traffic is expected to expand by 8pc in the April 2023-March 2024 fiscal year and by 13pc in April 2024-March 2025, Indian credit rating agency Icra said.
