Indian Aviation sector is growing with leaps and bounds and globally the growth pattern has been highly admired by the various stakeholders. Stephen Young, Regional VP-Sales, APAC,Air support in an exclusive interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, explains how Indian aviation sector is important for the world and how it has manifested the significant amount of investment to improve its airlines, airports, training and development and overall generating employment for the next gen of the nation. Excerpts…

How you look forward to Aviation growth in Asia especially India and on larger scale in South East Asia?
Initially looking at the wider Asia Pacific region there is significant growth being driven by much larger middle class in many of the economies. There is very rapid increase in GDP usually 5 per cent or beyond in most countries and a new category of passengers is entering the aviation market typically taking the first flight with the low cost or ultra low cost carrier and this is being seen some sort of growth among the carriers throughout the region.

Most specifically for India, I think we are seeing a period of consolidation, regulation and also period of dramatic increases in terms of airlines scale, airlines complexity but also efficiencies of scale. One of the most interesting area of the Indian market has been significant emergence of IndiGo as the largest carrier within the Indian market. They have shown immense synergies and efficiencies of scale in terms of the type of fleet, I think they have become benchmark for many of the Indian carriers to look towards. But also over a period of consolidation in terms of the TATA acquisition of air India , Vistara, Air Asia India and we are seeing really redistribution of airlines throughout India. There are few airlines ofcousre which are not operating as of now but obviously we see the new startups and new entrants to the market . Recently, we have seen Fly Big , also seen the growth of Star Air and I think the regional connectivity is key to the future progression of India aviation. As were going to see greater connectivity between the outline stations and the central hubs which will connect greater number of people through India to the wider aviation market.

I would also see greater level of international capability for the Indian passengers. The recent commercial agreements between IndiGo and Turkish have enabled a much greater ability for Indian passengers to move west and transit through Istanbul to greater number of destinations worldwide. I would also large number of routes opening from India going east to the rest of Asia pacific as well enhancing the connectivity.

What’s your views on enhancing the bilateral between South East Asian countries looking into the increasing demand?
I believe that there will be great level of bilateral cooperation between India and many of the states in Asia pacific and wider field. It will match the growth which is projected to coming from India certainly after the next decade . One of the key things that also need to be looked at is for foreigners entering the Indian market who is looking for transiting through India into another thord party country . The policy in place is regard o transit visa need to be reviewed againin order to actually make this particular typeof traffic much more viable for airlines in order tp pick up such traffic.The case for slot allocationand review of that in the wake of post Covid and bounce back would be highly advantageous in order to support the continuing growth of the Indian carriers. Hey are going to be the economic driver for many of the areas of the Asia pacific further increasing tourism, trade and utilisation of the air space because they are going to operate new routes .

Indian government is increasing its airport numbers and its capacity with rising demands. How do you see such steps?
In terms of the airport development it stay fundamental to growth for long terms for the Indian market. With the projections for the Indian market looking for India to be on eof the most important aviation markets globally this can be supported with significant investment in the infrastructure of just airports but also overall additional infrastructure in terms of air traffic control , all of the support systems to actually achieve the same. It is very pleasing to see such significant investment being made by the Indian government and various other stakeholders into the high quality infrastructure. We are seeing very-very good hubs and very good strategies for the space developed at Delhi and Mumbai and many of the other metropolises within India. One of the key things that we have noticed is all significant investment in the smaller towns and cities across India provided for the very first time in many cases.

According to you what’s on the policy side that need to be improvised in his region?
I think we have seen a significant level of policy improvement in enhancements and in India and within the wider Asia pacific region over the past 10 years. Within India there are highly skilled and capable personal to dive policy change and policy decision making. One of the areas where increasingly we are going to see policy change in regards to ANSP (Air Navigation Service Provision) and ATFM( Air Traffic Flow Management ). I think as we look at the hub cities in India, we are going to see increased level of congestion because new airports will bring more traffic and that need to managed in efficient way above the skies of India . I firmly believe that India is very well placed in order to enact the right policy decision moving forward. I also think that India with its bilateral decision making with its ability to liaise with its local partners will actually drive significant enhancement to the aviation industry.Aviation is all about partnerships, meeting between the lines of many different people from many different countries. India has always the history of being at the forefront of it and positive and forward looking towards its aviation policy enhancement.

Anything as conclusion you would like to mention?
One of the key things we have seen from India is significant numbers of aircraft orders. Those aircraft are scheduled to be delivered by the next decade but as part of that its not just pilot, its cabin crew, its engineers, its office administrators, reservation and ticket support, customer support and many other areas of the airline. A significant amount of efforts is need to train and to recruit these personals .I think the synergies between education sector , the training sector and the aviation sector will be key to ensuring that India carrier are able to drive the economic benefits from these increased fleets Its not only about India but connected aviation industry globally as well.

(Interview was conducted at the Civil Aviation South East Asia ( CASEA) Summit in Bangkok, Thailand).