Record-setting domestic passenger traffic and robust domestic economy to drive the need for 2,300 new airplanes, valued at $320 billion

New Dehli, India | December 19, 2018–

Boeing [NYSE: BA] raised its long-term forecast for commercial airplanes in India as unprecedented domestic passenger traffic and rapidly expanding low-cost carriers (LCCs) drive the need for 2,300 new jets – valued at $320 billion – over the next 20 years.

This year alone, more than 10 million passengers, on average, traveled within India each month.

“To meet this increased domestic air traffic growth, we see the vast majority of available airplane seats coming from LCCs,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Sales for Asia Pacific and India, Boeing Commericial Airplanes. “The success of this market segment will mean more than 80 percent of all new airplane deliveries in India will be single-aisles. And the superior economics and fuel efficiency of the new 737 MAX airplane will be the perfect choice for Indian carriers.”

According to Boeing’s Commercial Market Outlook (CMO), India’s commercial aviation industry has achieved 51 consecutive months of double-digit growth. This growth is matched in other sectors of the country’s economy.

“The Indian economy is projected to grow by nearly 350 percent over the next two decades to become the third largest economy in the world,” said Keskar. “This will continue to drive the growth of India’s middle class and its propensity to travel both domestically and internationally, resulting in the need for more new fuel-efficient short- and long-haul airplanes.”

With more than five percent of the world’s fleet expected to operate in India by 2037, services will continue to be a major driver of growth in the region’s commercial aviation industry. Commercial services such as flight training, engineering and maintenance, digital analytics among others will provide airlines with optimal operational efficiencies as they continue to expand to meet growth in the marketplace. In the South Asian market, including India, Boeing forecasts a commercial services market valued at $430 billion over the next 20 years.

Formerly known as Boeing’s Current Market Outlook, the CMO is the longest running jet forecast and regarded as the most comprehensive analysis of the commercial aviation industry. The full report can be found at www.boeing.com/cmo.

Leveraging India’s Aadhaar system will create the world’s most efficient travel system

Air Transport IT Summit, Jaipur, India | March 22, 2018– With its leading Smart Path^TM biometric solution for ID management now rolled out globally, air transport IT provider SITA is well poised to deliver a seamless, paperless travel experience for passengers across India.

SITA has already shown the benefits of using biometric technology to automate passenger identity checks at airports across the world – from the USA to Australia – and is well positioned to help unlock the full benefits of seamless, biometric travel across India.

Maneesh Jaikrishna, SITA Vice President Indian Subcontinent, Eastern & Southern Africa, speaking at the Air Transport IT Summit in Jaipur, said: “Leveraging India’s national Aadhaar biometric identity system – one of the biggest in the world – together with our proven common-use and Smart Path^TM technology, SITA will be able to deliver a seamless biometric experience across all airlines and airports – both domestic and international – in India. This would allow passengers to use their biometric identity no matter where they travel.”

SITA is already successfully helping airports and airlines incorporate biometrics into their existing infrastructure and government systems. According to Biometrics for Better Travel: An ID Management Revolution, a SITA report published this week, airlines and airports are increasingly investing in various forms of biometric technology. Over the next three years, 63% of airports and 43% of airlines plan to invest in biometric ID management solutions.

In the USA, SITA is using facial biometrics to help passengers flying with British Airways from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to London Gatwick to quickly board where all that is needed is a photo – no passport, no boarding card. The system integrates the US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) and airline’s IT systems to authorize boarding while completing necessary US exit checks in a single process. SITA is providing a similar solution to JetBlue at Boston’s Logan Airport.

At Australia’s Brisbane Airport, SITA has introduced its Smart Path™ technology which allows passengers to register their biometric details at a self-service kiosk at check-in and then, when ready to board, use an automated boarding gate to be verified using face recognition technology to access the aircraft.

SITA’s vision for the future strongly supports India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation’s decision to work with the air transport industry to create a “digitally unified flying experience”. Citizens’ national biometric identification cards and foreigner’s passports could be linked with the databases of airlines, airports and other stakeholders to deliver a seamless, secure travel experience at every step in the journey.

Hani El-Assaad, SITA President, Middle East, India and Africa, said: “In many respects, India is leading the way with the use of biometrics in all walks of life. We feel this presents an opportunity for the Government of India to work with the air transport industry and lead the way to drive new efficiencies in passenger processing and establish India as the world’s most efficient travel system.”

Aadhaar, India’s biometric identity system, has over one billion enrolled members. Indian passengers have shown greater willingness to use biometrics to speed up their journey through the airport. Research published in SITA’s  2017 Passenger IT Trends Survey showed that 70% of passengers in India said they would definitely use biometrics if given the option, removing the need to show a passport or boarding card at key points in the airport. This was well above the global average of 57%.

Maneesh Jaikrishna, said: “Many travelers are comfortable with the use of biometrics and see the benefits of using them throughout their journey. This aligns perfectly with the need to find more efficient ways to manage rising passenger numbers. There is little doubt that this technology is the key to resolving India’s constraints on airport infrastructure.”

India is expected to see passenger numbers grow by 337 million over the next 20 years to 2036, more than tripling from the 141 million passengers in 2016, according to IATA’s 20-year Air Passenger Forecast.

Airports Authority of India to use SITA BagManager to improve baggage handling at airports

Air Transport IT Summit, Jaipur, India | March 22, 2018– The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages 126 airports across India, has expanded SITA’s baggage management solution to 15 airports. SITA’s BagManager will provide the airports with real-time information on the status of passengers’ baggage, significantly reducing the chances of baggage mishandling.

This follows the implementation of SITA’s BagManager at Kolkata and Chennai Airports in 2015 and is in line with the AAI’s vision of rolling out standard airport infrastructure across all their airports to drive greater efficiency across the airport network. The implementation of SITA’s baggage solution will also help AAI’s customer airlines progress towards complying with IATA Resolution 753 by tracking bags across key points in the journey.

The 15 airports are Trivandrum, Calicut, Mangalore, Tirupati, Chennai, Madurai, Kolkatta, Goa, Lucknow, Jaipur, Amritsar, Leh, Chandigarh, Trichy and Ahmedabad.

As part of the expanded agreement, the AAI will also deploy SITA Airport Management Solution to two further airports – Goa and Lucknow airports – taking the total number of India airports using this technolgy to 12. SITA Airport Management Solution is a suite of integrated software applications designed to support and enhance airport operations from landside to airside, from landing to take off. With SITA Airport Management Solution, the airports will have access to real-time data to better anticipate, plan and control their operations.

Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman of Airports Authority of India, said: “As passenger traffic increases across India, we need to be smarter in the way we manage our airports and smart technology is the answer. SITA’s experience in India and its solutions make it possible to manage our network of airports in a more efficient and effective way, delivering a better service to our passengers while accommodating rapidly rising passenger numbers.”

The AAI continues to invest in new airport infrastructure and technology across India to meet growing passenger traffic. India is expected to become the third biggest passenger market by 2025 with more than 400 million passengers a year. This investment includes new development works at Lucknow, Deoghar, Rajkot and Allahabad airports.

Maneesh Jaikrishna, SITA Vice President Indian Subcontinent, Eastern & Southern Africa said: “India has long been an important market for SITA. With our sharpened focus on delivering solutions at the airport – including passenger processing and baggage management – we are able to support AAI with new technologies that make it easier to operate their airports and deliver a great passenger experience.”

MIHAN opts for SITA’s common-use and baggage solutions

2018 Air Transport IT Summit, Jaipur | 23 March 2018 —SITA continues to play a vital role in supporting the rapid growth of India’s air transport industry, providing key technology solutions to one of the country’s newest airports. The Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) has turned to SITA to provide passenger processing solutions for check-in and boarding, as well as baggage tracking.

Air passenger numbers in India have consistently seen double-digit growth over the past few years, significantly outperforming the global average. The country is on target to become the third-biggest aviation market by 2025. SITA has long supported the industry in India and MIHAN joins a vast footprint of airports and airlines across India using SITA technology.

As part of the new agreement, MIHAN is deploying SITA’s common-use technology, enabling airlines and their handling agents to access their IT applications in real-time on shared common-use equipment. SITA’s Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE) and Common Use Self Service (CUSS) allows any airline to use any agent desk, gate position or self-service kiosk for passenger check-in and bag drop.

The airport will also deploy SITA’s baggage tracking solution.  Worldwide, bags get mishandled every day which causes disruption for passengers and costs the industry billions of dollars but by providing real-time information on baggage status, SITABagManager will allow MIHAN to accurately track passengers’ bags and significantly reduce the likelihood of them being mishandled.

V.S Mulekar, Senior Airport Director, MIHAN Airport, said: “MIHAN is the single biggest publicly-funded development project in India. It is essential we have the right technologies in place to make sure the airport’s operations are highly efficient from day one and that they are future-proofed for our growth. SITA’s technology has proven successful in other airports in India and across the world and I have no doubt it will ably support MIHAN’s requirements.”

MIHAN is the biggest economic development project currently underway in India. The project aims to exploit the central location of Nagpur and convert the present airport into a major cargo hub with integrated road and rail connectivity. The airport is expected to accommodate up to 14 million passengers once completed in 2035.

Maneesh Jaikrishna, SITA Vice President Indian Subcontinent, Eastern & Southern Africa, said: “SITA’s solutions will allow the airport to cater to increasing traffic without having to invest in building additional infrastructure. At the same time, they will be able to provide best-in-class facilities for airlines and passengers alike. This is part of our commitment to making India not only one of the biggest aviation markets, but increasingly more efficient and passenger friendly.”

 

United Kingdom | October 31, 2017–India’s third largest airline, SpiceJet, has partnered with STG Aerospace in a cabin lighting retrofit programme which will see the airline upgrade its fleet of 737-700 / -800 / -900 with LED aftermarket ambient lighting solution, liTeMood®

This is the first major retrofit win for STG Aerospace in the Asia Pacific region and the largest lighting retrofit contract that the company has been awarded. Selected on STG Aerospace’s ability to quickly deliver the programme in line with the airlines busy maintenance schedule, combined with the simplicity of installation, together made STG Aerospace the number one supplier for the large retrofit cabin lighting contract.

“It has always been our endeavour to provide the best in-flight experience to our passengers. We are extremely happy with STG Aerospace’s ability to meet our tight timescales” said Arun Kashyap, Executive Vice President (Engineering), SpiceJet. “We are looking forward to enhancing the passenger flying experience on our aircraft and harmonise the look and feel of our cabin interiors of our existing fleet to achieve impactful brand differentiation and fleet commonality”.

A customer of saf-Tglo® since 2005 SpiceJet will now combine both liTeMood® and saf-Tglo® systems to provide a total cabin lighting system that complements each other, resulting in satisfied passengers, increased wellbeing and reduced stress during the flight.

Marcus Williams, Global Sales & Marketing Director, added: “We’re delighted to be helping SpiceJet in their mission to become India’s preferred low-cost airline.  This contract highlights the growing demand for STG Aerospace’s cabin lighting products from Indian carriers. Undoubtedly, SpiceJet’s decision to install our liTeMood® LED lighting system will help us to take full advantage of the rapidly growing retrofit market in India.”

liTeMood® has become the undisputed cabin mood lighting system of choice for operators of narrow-body Boeing fleets and is already delivering significant cabin transformations for numerous airlines in Europe, USA, Latin America and most recently Asia.

Singapore | July 26, 2016– Passengers using Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) can now check in faster due to the implementation of Rockwell Collins’ new ARINC vMUSE™ mobile passenger processing solution. IGI, India’s busiest airport and the largest in South Asia, is the first airport to implement ARINC vMUSE, which gives airlines the ability to check in travelers wherever and whenever needed.

“‘Passenger delight’ is a driving principle that has helped shape our company, services, goals and all that we stand for today,” said Jeewan Khulbe, Head of IT at Delhi International Airport Ltd. “ARINC vMUSE mobile from Rockwell Collins is a way to improve the passenger experience and to provide our airports with cutting-edge solutions when traditional systems are not enough.”

ARINC vMUSE mobile enables airline and ground handling agents to utilize a tablet-based application to check in passengers from anywhere in an airport. Key reasons IGI selected ARINC vMUSE mobile include:

• Providing the airport with a cost effective way to accommodate its rapid growth without additional infrastructure.
• Enabling the airport to help airlines reduce queues during winter months when weather can cause irregular operations due to flight disruptions.
• Providing a specialized check-in tool that enables airlines to offer an added level of service, like off airport check in or seat upgrades, for elite passengers.

“IGI understands the value that these new technologies will bring–especially improving operations,” said Paul Hickox, head of Airport System Sales for Rockwell Collins. “It is one of the many reasons IGI has repeatedly been honored by industry groups as one of the world’s leading airports for both quality and customer service.”

Since 2009, IGI has benefitted from the implementation of Rockwell Collins’ ARINC airport solutions. In addition to ARINC vMUSE mobile, the airport has deployed ARINC vMUSE™, ARINC SelfServ™ Kiosks, ARINC VeriPax™ Passenger Reconciliation System and ARINC BagLink™ for baggage messaging to facilitate passenger processing and reduce congestion.