In a ASSOCHAM Paper on `Air Travels between India & World, however, adds that India is one of the least penetrated markets for air travel as it is among the most expensive in the world whose air penetration levels are even lower than its neighbours Sri Lanka, Pakistan and countries with poorer GDP such as  Ethiopia and Nigeria.

ASSOCHAM President, Mr. Venugopal N. Dhoot said that smaller country like Malaysia with about 1/50th of population in India flies more passenger per annum than in India and even in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the average air travel is estimated at 30-35 as against 30 of India’s.

Mr. Dhoot further said that the basic and main reason for this abhorrent lack of advance in aviation industry in India is the absence of proper infrastructure including international airports, domestic aerodrome conveniences and air control and navigational facilities.

The study highlights that 40% of passenger traffic in India is concentrated in the two main airports of Delhi and Mumbai.  The top 5 airports in India account for over 70% of traffic and the top 25 account for almost 95% of the air traffic in India. along with the fact that these airports have limited tunnel facilities, outdated infrastructure, inadequate ground handling system and poor passenger amenities increases the traffic congestion in airports.

It further reveals that the segment of luxury and super luxury travellers is nearly 70 times the air traveler segment.  The number of passengers using premium  rail  services  (air-conditioned and first class)  in  recent times was about 52 millions, more than 3 times the  number of airline passengers (15.3. million).  In most other countries, air traffic is a large multiple of premium rail traffic.

This skewed distribution of travellers provides a very profitable opportunity for low cost carriers.  A comparable economy of China during 1980-2000 experienced a passenger traffic growth of 17% CAGR, when its GDP per capita reached the threshold.

It further says that the tourism driven economies like Thailand and Indonesia see a passenger count of 21.2 million and 9.4 million per year respectively.  In India, tourism is an important industry accounting for 2.5% of GDP and ranks as the 3rd largest foreign exchange earner.

The study also says that India has more than 400 airports which can be connected by air and currently less than 100 are serviced despite the entry of new airlines.  The feeder routes segment in Indian aviation still remains highly under served.  The continuing increase in air traffic on the trunk routes has kept the major network carriers focused on these routes.  Presently, almost 25% of the total domestic movement in the country is between top 6 metros.

The regional market has been treated as an adjunct to the trunk routes with the result that convenient flights are not available on a large majority of such routes leaving a significant potential market in tier-II cities. Currently, other than Indian airlines, only the LCCs like Air Deccan, GoAir link tier II cities to the metros.

The Chamber has suggested that if India wants its air penetration to go up, it would have to put in sound infrastructure facilities in place for both national and international tourists and increase the number of its air fleet from 250 aircrafts to about 1000 in a decades time. The Indian airspace will have to add capacities of around 15-20% CAGR over the next 5-6 years to cater to the growing opportunity in this sector.