The $14-billion Indian aviation industry is showing signs of recovery

Carriers, as well as experts, expect 10 per cent growth in passenger traffic against their earlier prediction of not more than 5 per cent.

Last year, passenger numbers dropped 10.5 per cent. In August, domestic sector traffic rose 26 per cent year-on-year, which is the first time in almost a year that a double digit growth has been recorded.

“After registering a fall of 10.5 per cent in 2008-09, the industry was expected to grow marginally. But considering the growth registered in the last three months, it is poised to grow by 10 per cent this fiscal,” said Mahantesh Sabarad, a senior aviation analyst with Centrum a leading financial company.

However there are others who are more optimistic. “The growth in the aviation industry would be one and a half times the gross domestic product. With good times around, the sector is going to witness 14-15 per cent growth,” said Rajeev Batra, executive director, KPMG.

“Surely, the revival has come much earlier than was anticipated. Our projections for the year were that the market would revive in the third quarter of this financial year but it revived early in August,” said Kapil Kaul, CEO (Indian sub-continent and West Asia), Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation in India.

Airlines say various factors are behind the revival. Corporate travel, which is nearly 30 per cent of the business, is limping back to normalcy. Airlines have been able to keep rates low. The average airline ticket price has come down from Rs 3,956 in 2008 to Rs 3,400 in 2009.

Source: - business standard

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