By Shivansh Tiwary
HYDERABAD, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Boeing on Wednesday said it expects airlines in India and South Asia to add 3,290 commercial jets to their fleets over the next 20 years, as resilient economic growth, a growing middle class and a wave of first-time flyers drive demand for air travel.
The company’s previous rolling 20-year outlook projected demand for 2,835 jets.
India and South Asia have together become one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets, with carriers racing to expand capacity and modernise fleets as airports are upgraded and low-cost and full-service airlines aggressively expand their networks.
The region has also emerged as a key testing ground for planemakers, as Airbus and Boeing compete for dominance while airlines step up purchases.
Boeing expects the airlines to add 395 wide-body jets and 2,875 single-aisle planes over the period.
Boeing’s forecast for the region is closely watched in the global aerospace sector, with India being the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market after the U.S. and China. India is also the fastest-growing, led by IndiGo and Air India, the country’s two largest carriers.
“There are lots of other aviation markets in the world that are larger, but now they have reached a point where they are effectively replacing fleets more than growing fleets … what India is doing is exactly the opposite,” said Ashwin Naidu, Boeing’s managing director of commercial marketing for India and South Asia.
India must also scale up its aviation infrastructure to keep pace with growing travel demand, he said.
“India’s network still remains very heavily concentrated on Delhi and Mumbai, with over 30% of the network still reliant on these two markets,” Naidu said.
Boeing has been regaining momentum after a series of crises. It delivered the most aircraft in 2025 since 2018 and surpassed Airbus in net orders for the first time in seven years.
The industry, however, continues to grapple with slow deliveries as supply chain disruptions limit planemakers’ ability to capitalise on strong demand, forcing airlines to spend heavily on maintaining older jets.
(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Hyderabad; Writing by Kashish Tandon; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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