Rarely if ever can a country's air transport market have undergone such a rapid transition from moribund to motoring as India's. The danger - if its creaking infrastructure and lingering bureacracy fails to keep pace with its rip-roaring economic growth - is meltdown.
The USA's airline sector was transformed after deregulation budget carriers have brought air travel to millions of low-income Europeans China's airlines have grown surely but steadily and the Gulf has seen the emergence of world-leading flag carriers. But it is in India where the emergence of new private airlines has arguably most transformed the industry in the past five years.
Can it last? India's forecast economic growth suggests it can. Even if there are some casualties - and as in any bull market some entrepreneurs will bet badly wrongly - demand among India's fast-expanding business and professional classes is sufficient for others to step in and fill any gaps.
The problem is the public sector. So far, there have been no major safety concerns, but the country's regulators will have to be nimble to make sure the frontier spirit of business opportunism does not translate into a Wild West breakdown of rules and oversight. The infrastructure has some catching up to do too, as anyone who has experienced one of India's many dysfunctional big airports will testify.
For India, the growing pains may just be starting.
Source: Flight International
