Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport

Rapidly expanding Kenya Airways charts growth with plan to serve every inhabited continent by 2017

Kenya Airways plans to launch its first services to North America, South America and Australia by 2017, making it one of the few carriers to serve every inhabited continent. While these three continents will give Africa's currently fifth-largest airline by seats a global presence, its future is pegged on Asia, with the carrier over the next 10 years planning to launch seven new routes into China, six in the Indian Subcontinent and three across North and Southeast Asia as well as having a growing presence in Europe and the Middle East. It is poised to become Africa's largest carrier.

Growth will be fuelled by Africa's status as a burgeoning market, as well as reliance on partners: Kenya Airways will open routes to SkyTeam member hubs in Xiamen (Xiamen Airlines), Hanoi (Vietnam Airlines), Seoul (Korean Air), Moscow (Aeroflot) and Prague (Czech Airlines). The intercontinental focus follows Kenya's strong emphasis on regional Africa, with the carrier aiming to serve every African nation by the end of 2013. 

India: the world’s fastest growing domestic aviation market

India was the fastest growing domestic market in the world in Sep-2011 with 18.4% year-on-year growth. Traffic growth in the India market exceeded the growth rate seen in China (9.7%) and Brazil (7.5%) in Sep-2011, and was considerably more robust than the global growth rate of 3.8%. India's domestic aviation market expansion has been the strongest in the world, tripling in the past five years, according to IATA, to become the ninth largest aviation market in the world.

Given the strong market fundamentals, the robust rate of growth is expected to continue. IATA forecasts that the Indian civil aviation market will register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 16% during the period 2010-2013. Looking further ahead, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Vision 2020 statement envisages a compound annual growth rate of around 15% in the next five years. Investment opportunities of USD120 billion are envisaged up to 2020 with USD80 billion on new aircraft.

India's domestic aviation market shows rapid growth in first half

On the surface, India's aviation industry looks to be in rude health, but behind the strong headline traffic figures is growing financial pain. India's airlines reported continued strong domestic passenger growth of 22.3% in Jul-2011 following on from an 18% expansion in the first half of the year. India is now the ninth largest and fastest growing domestic market in the world. The Indian government anticipates that India would become one of the three largest markets in the world by 2020.