The aviation industry has faced significant challenges in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conflicts disrupting global supply chains. These disruptions have led to bottlenecks and constraints, posing a significant obstacle to the industry’s recovery, despite the anticipated rebound in travel demand. While the Indian aviation sector has made strides in overcoming recent hurdles, it also continues to grapple with supply chain issues that are hindering its recovery. These issues threaten the remarkable growth trajectory of India’s aerospace sector, which is driven by a booming economy and ambitious expansion plans. According to CAPA India’s forecast, the Indian aviation industry is expected to have approximately 790 aircraft in its fleet by March 2024, with 588 operational aircraft. This means that over 200 aircraft or nearly 25 per cent of the total fleet will be grounded by March 2024. A major concern for mass grounding of domestic airlines is due to supply chain issues. This could disrupt the industry significantly, with major carriers like IndiGo, Air India, and SpiceJet already facing substantial grounding numbers. The current total of over 160 grounded aircraft across Indian airlines paints a worrying picture for the industry’s future.

India’s aviation industry is soaring high, fuelled by a burgeoning middle class, rising incomes, and an insatiable demand for air travel. Domestic passenger traffic is expected to reach an astonishing 1.1 billion by 2040, solidifying its position as the world’s third-largest aviation market. With over 1,000 aircraft on order, India boasts one of the largest aircraft order books globally. However, even if India becomes the third largest aviation market in the world in terms of number of passengers flying, it will remain dependent on foreign companies to fulfill its requirements for airplanes, engines, spare parts, MRO, pilots, training and a whole host of other things. Any bottleneck, at any stage of the entire operations, will severely impact the entire sector, thereby hurting the economy of the country. Do we want to be in such a situation, depending upon foreign companies to ensure that our planes keep flying. Why can’t we have ‘Atmanirbharta’ in Commercial Aviation as well? The rewards of achieving Atmanirbharta are manifold. Not only will it ensure India’s self-sufficiency in commercial aviation, but it will also create a thriving ecosystem of innovation, attract foreign investments, and generate countless employment opportunities. India will not just be a major aviation market, it will be exporting its expertise and shaping the future of aviation.

A Government focus on infrastructure development, skill development, and regulatory reforms will be crucial to achieving this goal. Leveraging its strong manufacturing base, India needs to actively collaborate with major players to establish aircraft production facilities within its borders. Recognising the need for skilled professionals, the government should invest in training programmes to ensure a readily available workforce capable of supporting the industry’s meteoric rise. To achieve sustainable growth, it will require collaborative efforts from various stakeholders, including the government, airlines, manufacturers, and technology providers. By diversifying supply sources, adopting innovative technologies, and fostering a collaborative environment, India will be able to meet its domestic market requirements and become a major manufacturing hub for the global aerospace market.

India has very successfully implemented the ‘Make in India’ programme in defence manufacturing with a clear vision to reduce defence imports and promote domestic defence manufacturing industry. The same should be done for commercial aviation as well which is also a very important sector for the growth of the nation’s economy. There are plenty of success stories in the design, development and manufacturing of fixed and rotary wing platforms for military aviation in India as a result of the ‘Make in India’ drive. These experiences should be used to design, develop and manufacture platform for commercial and general aviation in the country. Similarly, as done for the defence sector, government policies and incentives should encourage the private sector to step into and build a robust domestic manufacturing ecosystem for commercial aviation.

There are scattered examples of Indian manufacturing sector’s participation in the global supply chain for commercial aviation but those are few are far between. What is required is a concerted effort to drive this forward on all fronts with the involvement of all stakeholders. Unless India is able to do so, even if we have the number of passengers, we will never truly be amongst the top civil aviation markets in the world.