With the increase in number of private airlines in the Indian skies, aircraft manufacturer Airbus Industrie expects demand for planes to grow to about 800-1,000, including about 40 of its super jumbo A-380s, in the next two decades.
"The Indian market is very strong... we see between 800 and 1,000 aircraft being ordered from the country over a period of next 20 years, including some 40 A-380s," Kiran Rao, senior vice president of Airbus Industrie said in New Delhi.
He said his company had forecast a demand for 500 planes between 2004 and 2024, but considering the economic parameters, and the steady growth rates in India, the demand could be revised to 800 to 1,000 aircraft by 2026.
Rao said in dollar terms the market can be pegged at about $40 billion. The airplane industry draws up a long term forecast for the market, which is revised every two years.
The forecast is based on the existing fleets in a given country, various economic parameters and the growth rates of the country.
Airbus has orders for about 188 aircraft from private airliners in India. Rao said Airbus also has plans to set up training centres in India, whose market size would be second only to China.
Asked whether the sudden demand from Indian airliners had made it a seller's market, Rao replied in the negative.