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Airbus sees large increase in Indian passenger market.

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Airbus Industrie, the European aircraft manufacturer, has released a market forecast for India that indicates the number of travellers from that country will increase dramatically over the next 20 years.

Airbus

Industrie estimated that India's four major carriers will have to more than double their fleet size through the addition of 222 passenger aircraft in order to keep up with demand. The cost of these aircraft is estimated at about USD17.5bn, Reuters reported. The need for growth is expected to be surpassed only by that in China.

The current fleet of India's four major airlines consists of 112 passenger aircraft with a total of 22,000 seats. Those carriers included in the forecast were Air India, Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara. The latter two airlines fly only on domestic routes and are privately owned.

Airbus Industrie also suggested that the market for travel to Europe will increase by 3.5 times the current demand.

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