The number of people flying on domestic airlines in India is going up really fast. Every year, there are 38.27 percent more passengers, and every month, it’s 23.13 percent more.
Between January and August in 2023, domestic airlines in India carried a whopping 1190.62 lakh passengers. That’s a whole lot of people! And guess what? Not many flights got canceled, just 0.65 percent of them.
Recent data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that from January to August 2023, India’s domestic airlines carried 10.06 crore passengers. That’s a huge jump from the 7.7 crore passengers during the same time last year. This means the number of passengers grew by 30.55 percent in a year. And every month, it’s been going up by 22.81 percent, which is a good sign. It shows that the aviation industry is becoming a big part of India’s economy, both inside the country and in the world.
Jaideep Mirchandani, Chairman of aviation conglomerate Sky One FZE, says, “The reason more people are flying within India is because the government is helping the aviation industry. They’re giving tax breaks for renting airplanes in special places called GIFT Cities, and they’re also doing good things for aviation in the budget.”
“In the budget for 2023-24, the government said they will spend Rs 75,000 crore on the aviation sector. They want to make 50 new airports, heliports (where helicopters can land), and water aerodromes (places for seaplanes). They also want to make better roads and connections to airports so that people can easily go to different cities. This will help businesses and regular people who want to travel,” explains Jaideep.
More and more people in India have money to spend on things like flights. India has a lot of young people, and they really like to travel. With the new investments, airports will get better, and technology will make flying even better for passengers. This will also bring more jobs and tourists to India. Plus, it will attract more foreign companies to invest in making airplanes and fixing them.
But, Jaideep Mirchandani says there’s a big challenge too. “We need more pilots and people who can fix airplanes. Studies show that in Asia, airlines will need up to 130,000 new pilots in the next 17 years. That’s why Sky One FZE is spending a lot of money on training pilots. We have a special school called Pier Seven Aviation Academy where we teach people to be really good at flying and using the latest technology.”
