Still "exceptional" prospects in India, says Bruno Le Maire

India's aviation sector offers "exceptional" prospects beyond the recent giant order from Air India, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Thursday, referring to a potential new contract for "hundreds of aircraft" from Airbus via the company IndiGo. 

Air India, recently privatized, placed the largest order in the history of global commercial aviation on February 14: 470 aircraft, 250 Airbus and 220 Boeing. That giant contract could soon be followed by another from IndiGo, a low-cost carrier that holds more than 50% of India's air market, Le Maire told reporters during a stopover in New Delhi on his way to a G20 meeting in Bangalore. 

"The contract prospects that we have with IndiGo, with negotiations that involve several hundred aircraft, these are also exceptional contracts like no other in the world," he said. Airbus declined to comment.

IndiGo is already one of its biggest customers: the company operates 346 aircraft from the European aircraft manufacturer's factories and still has 488 to be delivered. India is the world's third-largest air transport market, and according to Airbus forecasts, its air traffic is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 6.6 percent over the next two decades, almost twice as fast as the world average.

The Indian market is expected to quadruple by 2041 to reach 641 million people, according to the European aircraft manufacturer's forecasts. Indian airlines are expected to order between 1,500 and 1,700 new aircraft over the next two years, according to a recent analysis note from the Center for Aviation (CAPA). 

India is "a developing country, which is now the fifth largest economy in the world and (...) needs these capacities, these infrastructures and to develop its airport and aviation offer very quickly," noted Bruno Le Maire.

"We have therefore, on this particular sector, prospects that are simply exceptional" for the champions of this activity, he added, citing, beyond Airbus, the engine manufacturer Safran and the ADP Group, manager of the Paris airports, which took in 2020 a 49% stake in GMR Airports (airports of New Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa)

Source : https://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/aerien-encore-des-perspectives-exceptionnelles-en-inde-assure-bruno-le-maire-20230223