India fourth biggest market for aircraft deliveries: Airbus

New Delhi: India will be the fourth biggest market in terms of value for all new aircraft deliveries after China, the US and the UAE during the next 20 years, according to aircraft maker Airbus.

The Airbus Global Market Forecast identifies a global demand for some 28,200 passenger and freighter aircraft (of 100 seats or more) worth nearly $4 trillion between 2012 and 2031. Of these over 27,350 will be passenger aircraft valued at $ 3.7 trillion.

India was the worst performer in domestic air traffic in July, recording a fall of 1.1 percent compared with a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Many other economies also faced a slowdown in travel growth, driven largely by a recent fall in business confidence, according to the IATA. But the Airbus report says passenger traffic will grow at an average annual rate of 4.7 percent in the next 20 years, during which some 10,350 aircraft will be replaced by new efficient models.

By 2031, the world's passenger fleet will have expanded by 110 percent from slightly over 15,550 today to over 32,550. In the same period, the world's freighter fleet will almost double from 1,600 to 3,000 aircraft.

The report says Asia Pacific will account for 35 percent of all new aircraft deliveries, followed by Europe and North America with 21 percent each. Emerging economic regions will represent more than half of all traffic growth in the next 20 years.

Increasing urbanisation and the doubling of the world's middle classes to five billion people is also driving growth. By 2031 mega cities will more than double to 92 and over 90 percent of the world's traffic will be between or through these points.

"Aside from growth in international traffic, by 2031 four of the world's biggest traffic flows will all be domestic - US, China, Intra Western Europe and India - and these account for a third of world traffic," says John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers.

"In 20 years from now, China's domestic passenger traffic will overtake the US domestic traffic to become the number one traffic flow in our forecast. Aviation is not just essential for international commerce, but also for domestic economies too."