Scindia inaugurates Asia’s largest Aviation Expo 'Wings India 2024'

New Delhi: Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia inagurated Asia’s largest Aviation Expo "Wings India 2024' on Thursday at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad. The largest event in the Civil Aviation sector in Asia, the mesmerizing four-day “Wings India 24” extravaganza kickstarted in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Spanning across commercial, general, and business aviation, the theme for the show is “Connecting India to the World in Amrit Kaal: Setting the Stage for India Civil Aviation @2047."

Inaugurating the event,Scindia said, “The philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbkum” truly epitomizes the objectives of civil aviation connecting the world as one family while addressing local aspiration of the ordinary citizens to fly.”

The Union Minister said that Aviation sector is one of the key drivers of economic development and its growth in the emerging economies has been incredible. The aviation economy provides significant economic and social benefits as it facilitates tourism, trade, connectivity, generates economic growth, provides jobs, and provide a lifeline for remote communities and enable a rapid response during unprecedented situations. The Indian aviation sector symbolises 3As: Accessibility, Availability and Affordability.

Talking about India’s civil aviation growth story, the Minister said that India is the shining star in the Civil Aviation landscape. “Total number of domestic pax rose from 60 million in 2014 to 143 million in 2020 growing at a CAGR of 14.5 percent and is expected to have crossed the figure of 150 million in 2023. We are clocking more than 4.5 lakh Pax a day on a regular basis with a high of 4.67 lakh domestic passengers recently.

In the six years leading to FY 2020 the number of international passengers had also grown at CAGR of 6.1 percent. Domestic Cargo volumes handled by Indian airports in the 15 years leading to FY 2019 increased by 60 percent while international cargo volumes increased by 53 percent. Despite tremendous growth in recent times, India still remains highly under-penetrated market. Even if, as per projections, the number of domestic passengers reaches 635 million by FY 2030, India will still be one of the least penetrated of the 20 largest markets,” Scindia said

Seven major announcements were made today at Wings India 2024:

• Release of the joint knowledge paper on civil aviation by FICCI and KPMG

• Launch of UDAN 5.3

• Launch of the Airbus-Air India Training Centre, with the purchase of more airplanes and the setting of a flight training center in Gurugram with 10 flight simulators and 10,000 pilots being trained in the coming years

• Airbus manufacturing contracts with TATA ASL and Mahindra Aerospace Structures Pvt. Ltd. to foster more pilots.

• GMR and IndiGo also signed a consortium to collaborate with multiple patterns in developing sustainable training in the aerospace industry

• Inauguration of the GMR School of Aviation

• Deal announcement of Akasa Air with a triple order of 200 aircrafts in a period of 17 months

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