India needs more than 3,000 planes in the coming years to meet its demand, as air travel balloons on the wings of passengers switching from train travel. This would mean a job boom in aviation—the nation will require 45,000 pilots, an equal number of technical staff and half a lakh cabin crew at least.
This was revealed by a gung-ho Boeing managing director for India (marketing), Ashwin Naidu, at Wings India 2026, Asia's biggest civil aviation event. The real growth, according to the plane maker’s estimate, would come from small towns driving the growth, but there is one big lacuna: the demand for regional jets (smaller planes).
Going by logic, the length and breadth of India make air travel much more convenient, provided it is accessible. And with the present growth in air connectivity in non-metro towns, which has grown four times in the last 20 years, it is a no-brainer that secondary and tertiary towns should be catered to, perhaps with regional jets (smaller planes) at least at first.
However, the numbers do not agree, surprisingly. India presently operates around 750 planes on commercial domestic routes, with orders for new aircraft, mainly from the three biggest airline groups, Indigo, Air India and Akasa, coming to about 1,400 presently. And Boeing’s estimate is that the nation will need way more than double that number going into Viksit Bharat 2047.
But when you break up the flight requirements, Boeing believes all the growth will come from single-aisle narrow-bodied aircraft, the typical 737 (whose size equivalent from Boeing rival Airbus that is more common in the country is the Airbus A320) and its future variants. In fact, a sizeable 87% of the required aircraft number would be in this range, which Boeing presently caters to with its Boeing 737 MAX model.
Only 12% of the requirement will be wide-bodied planes usually deployed on international routes, which in Boeing’s repertoire includes the Dreamliner (B787 range) and the 777 range (including its much anticipated 777x model).
Yet, for all the talk of growth stemming from non-metro airports, regional jets (smaller planes) come to less than one per cent.
Naidu explained why this anomaly will persist. In short, seat-mile economics.
“The number (of regional jets) will continue to remain small,” he explained, “10-15 years ago it was just less than 10. Today, the only airline offering such aircraft is Star Air (which offers services primarily connecting cities in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka). So far, our prediction has been right. Going forward, we still continue to maintain that the regional jet market is a challenge in India. Because for success in Indian aviation, you need seat-mile economics. The cost to operate a flight is divided by the number of seats. That is a challenge even for bigger aircraft, and it becomes an even bigger challenge for regional jets.”
“Second (reason) is that airports in India are already congested, so you (would) want to use a higher capacity aircraft. Regional jets may look good in year one or two of operations, but the markets quickly outgrow the regional jets (when passengers and demand increase). That is why India’s aviation market requires single aisle economics.”
Of course, Boeing’s argument and estimate also fit into its present product offerings like the Boeing 737 MAX, especially considering that the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, known for its regional jets, just announced a collaboration with Adani to start manufacturing its smaller planes in India, on the sidelines of Wings India 2026. Already locked in a fierce tussle for garnering the Indian civil aviation market, the fastest growing in the world, Boeing would definitely not cherish the idea of having to fight one more competitor, especially one that is entering the market with such a formidable ally.
