As the demand for air travel in India increases, the industry should focus on being able to grow in the most sustainable and efficient way. While the government can play its part in supporting the aviation ecosystem it has to go hand in hand with improvements in operational efficiencies, such as minimising empty seats, reducing cabin weights etc., as well as investing in more fuel-efficient aircrafts to balance growth with environmental commitments.
Decades of technological advancements have made aircraft engines more fuel-efficient, at a rate of about 1 per cent per year, and this is expected to continue. Any savings in fuel cost reduces operational cost as well as carbon emissions. Airlines in India, looking to expand and upgrade their fleet to deliver greater connectivity, stand to gain significantly on both fronts, from investments in new aircraft models with state-of-art technologies and more fuel-efficient engines.
Globally, aviation is at the dawn of its third major era, building on the foundation laid by the Wright brothers and the innovators of the Jet Age in the 1950s. Aviation’s third era is enabled by advances in new architectures, advanced engine thermodynamic efficiencies, electric and hybrid-electric propulsion, digitisation, artificial intelligence, materials and manufacturing. Larger and wider aircrafts will begin to benefit from novel designs that will further improve efficiency through management of aircraft drag and distributing propulsion in new ways.
Indian aviation is also at the cusp of a new era. The first phase was led by the public sector airlines, Air India and Indian Airlines. The next phase saw the open sky era from the early nineties when the private sector made its imprint on Indian skies. The current era is seeing a focus on consolidation, innovation, customer comfort, sustainability and responsible flying, and rightly so.