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Wings India 2026: Airbus, ATR share their outlook on India’s market growth, country moves closer to realising its aircraft manufacturing ambition
January 30th 2026
Indian carriers will triple the size of their fleets to 2,250 jets over the next decade, Airbus said during the “Wings India 2026” airshow. Read More » While India is the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market after the United States and China, the aviation sector is still at an early stage, with trips per capita amounting to 0.13, or far below comparable regions, said Jürgen Westermeier, Airbus president and managing director for India and South Asia. This leaves substantial room for more Indians to adopt air travel, he explained. “Some services in aerospace will now benefit from the reduction in tariffs after the India-EU trade agreement,” he added.
ATR has released a new white paper demonstrating that India’s rapidly expanding regional connectivity demand is fundamentally driven by the turboprop market. Based on ATR’s MobilityMonitor platform, a backcast model built on the observation of tens of millions of actual journeys across all modes, the study finds that over 90% of India’s 4.6 billion annual inter-city journeys are under 400 nautical miles, the range where turboprops deliver economy advantage compared to regional jets, especially in low-fare environments and in today’s context of rising fuel prices. The white paper identifies up to 900 new domestic routes, of which 420 fall squarely into turboprop territory. ATR estimates that 35 million of the 90 million additional annual passengers expected from UDAN-backed airport expansion could be served efficiently and sustainably only by turboprops. “With a need for affordable air travel, and fuel costs set to increase, turboprops are the only economically viable solution to scale regional connectivity profitably,” says Alexis Vidal, ATR’s Senior Vice-President Commercial. In its forecast, the OEM anticipates a need for 210 new turboprops in India by 2044, driven entirely by regional expansion.
This week brought developments in line with India’s ambitions, shared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to become an aircraft manufacturer. It is part of the country’s wider “Make in India” initiative to transform the country into a global manufacturing powerhouse, with the sector aiming to contribute 25% of GDP in the coming years. On January 27, 2026, Embraer and Adani Defence & Aerospace signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop an integrated regional transport aircraft ecosystem in India. The companies aim to collaborate on opportunities in aircraft manufacturing, supply chain, aftermarket services, and pilot training. The collaborative industrial partnership will establish an assembly line and implement a phased indigenization plan to advance India’s Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) program, aligned with the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative and the UDAN regional connectivity vision. On January 28, 2026, United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed a joint venture agreement outlining cooperation to manufacture the SJ-100 regional jet in India, formalizing discussions that began with an MoU signed last year. Under the agreement, HAL is expected to support certification and validation of the SJ-100 in India and will be licensed to manufacture and sell the aircraft locally, including parts and spares for maintenance and repair. UAC would assist HAL in preparing production facilities through consulting, design support, and technical assistance.
