The country's crowded airports handled more than 220 million passengers
during the most recent fiscal year, an annual increase of nearly 20%.
Traffic is expected to double over the next two decades, propelling
India past the U.K. to become the world's third-largest aviation market.
But there's a major obstacle to sustaining that growth: Less than 20% of the country's airports are in regular use.
The shock figure was cited by Ajay Singh, chairman of Indian budget airline SpiceJet, at the CNN Asia Business Forum in Bangalore on Monday. According to Singh, only 75 of the country's 400-odd airports are fully operational.
Singh said the poor infrastructure will make surpassing the U.K. a "huge challenge."
"Typically capacity always lags demand in our country," he said. "There are another 325 [airports], we need to upgrade them."
India's aviation ministry suggests the problem is even worse: It says only 75 out of 450 airports and airstrips in the country have scheduled operations.
To Read the News in Full 14/02/17 Rishi Iyengar/CNN Money
But there's a major obstacle to sustaining that growth: Less than 20% of the country's airports are in regular use.
The shock figure was cited by Ajay Singh, chairman of Indian budget airline SpiceJet, at the CNN Asia Business Forum in Bangalore on Monday. According to Singh, only 75 of the country's 400-odd airports are fully operational.
Singh said the poor infrastructure will make surpassing the U.K. a "huge challenge."
"Typically capacity always lags demand in our country," he said. "There are another 325 [airports], we need to upgrade them."
India's aviation ministry suggests the problem is even worse: It says only 75 out of 450 airports and airstrips in the country have scheduled operations.
To Read the News in Full 14/02/17 Rishi Iyengar/CNN Money
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