Boeing: Domestic expansion in India to help quadruple region’s commercial fleet over next two decades
February 10, 2025
The world’s fastest-growing commercial aviation market (India and South Asia) is set to nearly quadruple its fleet size over the next 20 years, Boeing estimates, building on “sustained fleet growth throughout the last decade”.
Fuelled by elevated demand and a rise in the region’s air traffic – set to grow by more than 7% a year through 2043 – the domestic sector is expected to remain the largest and fastest-growing segment in India’s travel market. “This projected traffic growth will be enabled by further low-cost carrier expansion and network diversification as airline offer more routs and destinations throughout the region,” clarified Boeing.
The figure of 2,835 units to be delivered to the region over the next 20 years is up from an earlier estimate of 2,705, released by Boeing in January 2024, and updating not only overall demand but the specific need for single-aisle models (up from 85% to 90%).
Boeing manager of commercial marketing for India and South Asia Ashwin Naidu attributed the exponential growth as attributable to “strong economic and trade growth, rising household incomes and investments in infrastructure and development”. With people having greater access to air travel, “the region’s airlines will require a modern fuel-efficient fleet to meet increased demand over the next two decades,” he concluded.
In the next 20 years, the overwhelming majority of the some 2,835 aircraft estimated to be delivered to the India and South Asia region are single-aisle (2,445 units). Fuel-efficient narrowbodies such as the 737 MAX will account for nearly nine out of ten commercial deliveries, estimates Boeing, “providing airlines with greater network flexibility and better economics on fast-growing short- and medium-haul routes”.
Widebodies, meanwhile, will quadruple (with some 370 units due for delivery). Boeing points out the suitability of aircraft such as the 787 and 777X to “develop long-haul networks, particularly from India to North America, where capacity has doubled in the past decade”.
In January 2024, Boeing vice president of commercial marketing Darren Hulst revealed that with Indian low-cost carriers hold nearly a 90% share of all domestic seats within the region, continuing to “stimulate demand and connect emerging regions with low fares”. Of the new deliveries, he estimated that around 72% will support fleet growth while 28% will replace older, less fuel-efficient types.
The huge opportunity for growth within the region was perhaps highlighted by Air India’s record-breaking order of 470 aircraft in 2023, including firm orders for 190 373 MAX, 20 787 Dreamliner and ten 777X aircraft (along with options for 70 more units). This deal marked Boeing’s largest order in South Asia, with Boeing noting at the time that the South Asian region was expected to “more than triple its in-service fleet from 700 to 2,300 airplanes to meet passenger demand” over the next 20 years.
