Boeing Sees No Signs of Slowdown Citing Strong Aviation Metrics

14.09.2023 - 08:15 / skift.com / Amrita Ghosh

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Forecasting the Indian aviation sector’s growth fundamentals to remain strong, Boeing India President Salil Gupte said that the rationalization of fuel taxes and continued investments in infrastructure will help sustain the momentum. 

“We see no slowdown (in India) and we continue to see very high load factors, extremely high rates of profitability amongst the airlines and we see extremely strong demand for airplanes as we have seen in some of the largest orders ever placed in the world,” Gupte told the Press Trust of India.

Record Orders: Indian carriers have around 1,500 planes on order. Earlier this year, Air India placed an order for 470 aircraft, including 220 planes from Boeing. 

The Boeing commitments, not including the options, are worth an estimated $15 billion, according to Cirium.

Investments in India: Boeing has also announced various investments, including $100 million for training pilots in the country. It has maintenance training partnerships with partners for having enough skilled mechanics in India.

Tapping Into Growth Opportunities: Indian carriers are expected to require more than 2,200 aircraft in the next 20 years. In order to tap the growth opportunities, Gupte said a few ingredients need to be put in place, including ensuring that there are enough pilots and mechanics to fly all these airplanes.

“That is going to require significant skilling, it is going to require us to train 37,000 pilots and 38,000 mechanics over the next 20 years,” he said. 

In another development, Boeing has invited Indian startups and students for its innovation leadership program.

The Sikkim government has issued an advisory, announcing a complete ban on leasing out and renting homestay accommodations to any third party. Homestays will now be run and operated only by the local entrepreneur owning the business.

Homestay owners are advised to comply with the same. Further, any report on violation of the same shall be dealt with strictly by the department, it said. 

Why the Ban? The state government provides subsidized loans for the