We are pleased to invite you to join the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) organised ‘UK Airports and Aviation MRO Trade Mission to India’ in the w/c 3rd March 2025. The focus of this Mission is to showcase UK Supply Chain capabilities in innovation and sustainable business practices that can be adopted in the fast-growing Indian airport infrastructure and aviation MRO ecosystem. The mission is being organised in partnership with the British Aviation Group and is open to all BAG members as well as non-member UK companies.
The UK trade delegation will visit New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad during that week to interact and engage with key Indian stakeholders across government and industry in the airport and aviation MRO ecosystem.
Focus areas –
- Airport supply chain in goods and services
- Aviation MRO technologies that can be pitched to airlines and third-party MRO companies
- Innovation and sustainable practices focusing on Net Zero and decarbonisation
- Engineering, cargo, retail, maintenance services and urban development initiatives
- New Age technology services to promote seamless travel experience
India Market
India is among the fastest growing civil aviation markets in the world. It’s currently the third largest domestic aviation market globally buoyed by the strong demand from Indians who are increasingly taking to air travel. The market is expected to be a 230 million air passenger market by the end of this year – a doubling of capacity in the last ten years. With an average growth rate of 8% over the last ten years, India will shortly become the third largest air-passenger market (domestic and international) by 2026 - only behind the USA and China, from the current fifth.
The growth in capacity has been witnessed in all segments of the aviation ecosystem that is rapidly growing in the country. The count of operational airports is nearing 150, and this will particularly be augmented by the start of operations of the second green-field airports in major cities like Delhi and Mumbai. These additional capacities will burgeon the already large air passenger traffic flow to these cities and further the ambition of Indian air carriers developing the hub-and-spoke model for international operations.
India's airport industry has experienced substantial growth, with the number of airports increasing from 74 in 2014 to 148 in 2023, and the government is aiming to further increase this to 230 by 2030. India is expected to handle approximately 390 million passengers in FY 2024-25 and 575 million passengers annually by 2030. It is estimated that India will see a 6x jump in the overall passenger traffic in the next 10 years. Indian public and private sector companies are expected to invest over £15 billion in airport infrastructure. Major airports are investing in additional runways and expanding terminal infrastructure, aiming to quadruple capacities by 2030 to facilitate over 100 flight movements per hour. There has also been a huge focus of private operators to expand non-aero business in line with global levels.
Indian airline operators in response to the growth expectation of the market have placed large orders, with leading operators – IndiGo, Air India and Akasa, combined having an existing order book in excess of 1500 aircrafts to be delivered over the next decade. This massive capacity expansion has also set in motion capability expansion across aircraft maintenance, pilot training, aircraft engineers and ground-handling. The massive capacity expansion has seen significant investment in the MRO services provided in the country. This has been further buoyed by the progressive policies of the Indian government towards enabling the growth of the sector. This has enabled the current trend of substantial investments deployed by both airlines and third-party MRO companies in developing capability which include both structural and engine MRO services. This provides a significant opportunity for UK companies to pitch innovative technologies to Indian companies as these new MRO capacities are planned and developed.
To be a part of this mission to India will give your company an excellent opportunity to showcase through the UK Industry’s collective representation, the comprehensive UK offer to Indian decision makers across all stages of an aviation MRO and airport project lifecycle including their sustainability capabilities with a focus on decarbonisation, and net zero journey.
Participate
If you would like to express your interest in the mission, please register your company on the right hand side of this page.
Webinar
In advance of the scheduled Department for Business & Trade (DBT) organised ‘UK Airports and Aviation MRO Trade Mission to India’ in early March 2025, BAG and DBT hosted a webinar on the 9 January 2025 where they provided further information on the India civil aviation market and insights on the schedule for the planned India Mission. Details of this webinar including the recording and presentations can be found here.
