INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
aircraft orders from Indian carriers to a record high on Wednesday, predicting the nation's airlines would order up to 2,300 new planes
worth $320 billion from global planemakers over the next 20 years.The US planemaker's estimate for the period to 2037 is about 9.5 per
cent higher than its previous prediction of 2,100 jets until 2036 made last year.India is one of the world's fastest-growing aviation
markets, with domestic passenger traffic growing at around 20 per cent in recent years, and Boeing expects it to become the third-largest
commercial aviation market by the early 2020s.High oil prices, hefty fuel taxes and a weak rupee have hurt airlines' profitability this
year, although pressure is starting to ease as oil prices fall and the currency firms.The Indian market, dominated by low-cost carriers like
IndiGo and SpiceJet, is also hobbled by cut-throat competition and chronically low fares that have left full service airlines like Jet
Airways and Air India strapped for cash."India sees dramatic fares and discounts and that is going to hurt airlines more and more," Dinesh
Keskar, senior vice president, Asia Pacific and India sales at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told reporters on Wednesday."It is important
that discipline in airfares comes in."Domestic carriers like Vistara, a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons, IndiGo and
budget airline GoAir are looking overseas for better returns.Boeing expects single-aisle planes, such as its 737 MAX, to account for 84 per
cent of global planemakers' new jet deliveries to India from 2018-2037, higher than the global average.
