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The Indian aviation industry took a massive blow on 17 April 2019 when Jet Airways was forced to indefinitely halt all its flight operations after its banks rejected its plea for emergency funds. Once known as the nation’s largest airline, it contained a fleet of around 120 largely Boeing Co planes.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India’s aviation sector supports 7.5 million jobs directly and indirectly in the country and makes up 30 billion rupees of its gross domestic product or 1.5 per cent of the economy. Data gathered from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reveals that India’s air passenger traffic has grown by at least 16% annually over the past decade. Domestic passenger traffic grew around 18.28 per cent to reach 243 million in 2018-19 and is expected to become 293 million in 2020. When it comes to international passengers, it grew by 10.43 per cent to reach 65 million in 2018 and traffic is expected to become 76 million in 2020. In 2018-19, domestic freight traffic stood at 1,213.06 million tonnes, while international freight traffic was at 2,143.97 million tonnes. India’s domestic and international aircraft movements grew 14.40 per cent and 9.40 per cent to 1,886.63 thousand and 437.93 thousand during 2017-18.