India’s domestic airlines have been growing rapidly, along with the country’s economy, and Boeing has upped its estimate of how many more planes India’s air carriers will need in the next twenty years to 2,300. Of course, Boeing would like to sell as many of those as possible.
Commercial aviation in India has grown steadily every month for over four years, and now clocks over 10 million passengers a month. The fastest-growing sector is in low-cost carriers, where Boeing hopes to sell the 737 MAX as the ideal choice because of its efficiency and relatively low cost.
Boeing expects India’s economy to grow by 350% in that 20-year period, and become the world’s third-largest economy. It expects the bulk of the new planes needed to be single-aisle planes in the 90 and above seat range, estimating that about 1,940 will be needed. Variants of the 737 MAX series range from about 130 seats to nearly 200.
While Boeing only estimates sales of 10 less-than-90-seats regional jets, its new joint venture with Brazil’s Embraer will allow it to compete in that segment, and in the lower range of the 90-200 seat range with Embraer’s E-Jet series. Boeing also estimates a demand for 350 wide-body jets with 200 seats and above.
