The Aviation Industry in India has turned out to be one of the fastest-growing industries in the last three years. India has become the third-largest domestic aviation market in the world and is expected to overtake the UK to become the third-largest air passenger market by 2024. According to IATA, India will overtake China and the USA in terms of the air passenger market in the next 10 years.
Job Scenario :
As the world starts to recover from the COVID pandemic we see a huge number of hirings by major players of the Indian aviation market. IndiGo was the first airline in the world which started hiring pilots post-pandemic era in February 2021. Thereafter we saw a great number of hirings for ground personnel and cabin crews by a number of players in India. At present, there are many Cabin crew interviews that are announced by various players. Also, Air India announced vacancies for ATR and Dornier type-rated pilots. There are many job announcements which in turn indicates gradual recovery of the aviation market for fresh aspirants.
Major Changes in Indian Aviation :
There are some major changes taking place in the Indian Aviation market. As said by the Minister of Civil Aviation, “First time in two decades, new airlines are starting instead of closing down: Jyotiraditya Scindia” (Click here to read article), we see positive growth in the Indian Aviation market. With the privatization of Air India which is expected to be done by the end of January 2022 and the launch of 2 new airlines, we see a positive trend in this sector.
As DGCA lifted the ban on B737 Max after nearly 2 years we are expected to see a positive trend in the market. SpiceJet is also expected to grow its network as the ban is lifted from B737 Max. SpiceJet also got 2 B777 from Boeing as compensation for grounding B737 Max for nearly 2 years. Click here).
With the revival of Jet Airways and the launch of a new airline with the ULCC model Akasa backed by Mr Rakesh Jhunjhunwala we can see great competition in the Indian market. Jet Airways is in talks with Airbus and Boeing regarding orders for their fleet (Source). Akasa has also ordered 72 B737 aircraft for its fleet and is expected to start operations in the middle of 2022 (Source).
The emergence of Drones in India:
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday (August 26) said the aim of the government is to make India a global drone hub by 2030, adding that drone application will be ensured in transportation, logistic, defence, mining, infrastructure sectors and more, which will generate job opportunities (Source). Click here for Drone rules 2021 dated 25-08-2021.
There are several new companies coming into the drone industry for various purposes such as Surveillance of either pipeline of huge industries or wiring of huge power plants, Professional Photography, for defence purposes and many more to be listed. There’s also the launch of a new digital platform regarding operations of drones in India named “DigitalSky(Link)”. SpiceJet is also planning for a drone delivery service for medical and essential supplies in remote areas. Overall we can see India becoming a drone hub in the near future.
Helicopters In India:
A new Helicopter Policy has been introduced in India under which dedicated hubs and corridors will be established and landing charges and parking deposits will be abolished to boost commercial operations.
The government is also planning to develop helipads along major highways and expressways for medical emergencies. This in turn will open up many new jobs and opportunities in the field of helicopter operations. There are around 250 helicopters in India out of which 181 of them are operated by non-scheduled operators, while there is less than one helipad per district. This indicates that there is a lot of room for development in the area of helicopter operations.
Milestones of Indian Aviation Sector :
There was a time when air travel was meant for just a few. In the last few years, our government has taken steps to democratize civil aviation under the “Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik(UDAN)” scheme.
In the last 7 years, there were 65 airports built in our country. Today India has a total of 149 airports, heliports and waterdromes.
Fare has been reduced substantially and continues to reduce as competition is increasing and more people travel by air. There are several states in India which have reduced their VAT rate of fuel from 25-30% to 1-2% and there’s a probability that the left states will also reduce VAT rate to decrease the price of operations. This will result in a decrease in fares of flight tickets which will increase more air passenger traffic in coming years.
There are several milestones achieved by DGCA which have been mentioned in the link here.
With the launch of new schemes and policies, we are seeing positive growth in the Indian Aviation market. We are seeing new jobs coming up and new airlines coming up in the market which in turn indicates recovery of the industry after being hit by the pandemic.
