India’s aircraft orders to exceed 1,000 with Jet Airways’ imminent order; infrastructure a problem

Low cost carriers account for more than 85% of India's current order book of 923 aircraft, but in the coming weeks two of its full service airlines will add to the tally.

Jet Airways is expected to place an order for a further 100 narrowbody aircraft (this figure may include options) - taking its total of the type to 175 - while Vistara is likely to order 50 narrowbodies and 50 widebodies, according to CAPA's earlier research.

With these planned acquisitions, India's order book will reach 1123 aircraft - the third largest in the world after the USA and China. And its ratio of 2.2 aircraft on order for every aircraft in service would be the highest of any major aviation market.

The projected order book will be dominated by narrowbodies, accounting for 86% of the total. Widebodies and regional aircraft account for just 6% and 8% of the total, and this is after orders in recent weeks for 50 ATR-72s by IndiGo and 25 Q400s by SpiceJet.