SIX THINGS DEFINED INDIAN AVIATION THIS YEAR

It has been a gung-ho year for Indian aviation. The numbers are again back to record levels. The growth is again red hot and the airports and airlines are all in the black. AMEYA JOSHI REPORTS

-  AMEYA JOSHI

As the year comes to an end, India will have recorded its best-ever domestic traffic in history, fully coming out of the COVID pandemic and a year ahead of industry body IATA's estimate of COVID recovery by 2024. The year 2019 which was the last full year of operations pre-COVID, had seen the fall of Jet Airways - yet the year had seen record traffic. This year was no different with one airline going down yet the industry recovery being strong and crossing the pre-COVID levels.

IndiGo touches the milestone of 300 aircraft

IndiGo became the first airline in India to reach the significant milestone of having its fleet reach 300 aircraft. The milestone was reached on January 6, 2023. This achievement solidified IndiGo's position as India's largest airline and one of the fastest-growing low-cost carriers globally.

The airline consistently recorded a domestic market share of over 60% this year and carried more passengers than Air India in international segments. The expansion has been driven by multiple orders since 2005 with the latest being this year, when the airline placed an order for a record of 500 narrowbody aircraft. The airline became the first one in India to operate over 2000 daily flights towards the end of the year.

For the record, IndiGo reached its 200 aircraft fleet moment in December 2018 and it had its 100th operational aircraft in December 2015. It went from 0 to 100 in nine years, 100 to 200 in 3 years and 200 to 300 in a little over four years, primarily as it focused on fleet renewal and the pandemic years took away the momentum of growth. The airline though has come out stronger than ever from the pandemic. Interestingly, the year IndiGo started - the total fleet in the country was less than 300! In a country which is littered with airline skeletons, IndiGo has been a breath of fresh air which has grown with its standardised approach and reached 80+ destinations in the country.