By P.Vijian, NNN-Bernama,
New Delhi : India is hosting an international aviation exhibition next month which the country hopes will spur its domestic airline industry which has suffered sluggish growth last year following the global economic downturn.
The Indian Aviation 2010 exhibition in Hyderadab from March 3 to 7 — the second edition of the show — is expected to draw 115 international exhibitors, including aerospace giants like Airbus, Boeing, Eurocopter, GE Aviation and Hawker Beechcraft.
The event is jointly organized by India’s Aviation Ministry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
“This is an international event and it would certainly benefit India’s aviation sector. Whatever plans that were put in the backburner last year will be carried out in 2010,” said Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
India’s aviation sector, ranked the world’s ninth largest, was valued at 5.6 billion USD in 2008 and it is slowly taking off as domestic and international traffic volumes pick up again.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation has predicted that domestic traffic would rise by 25 to 30 per cent in 2010, while international traffic was expected to grow 15 per cent.