Wings India 2024 – Asia’s Largest Aviation Expo

• 20 Jan 2024

The largest happening in the Asian civil aviation sector, Wings India 2024, was inaugurated on 18^th January, 2024 at Hyderabad by Union Minister Shri Jyotiraditya M Scindia.

• The theme is “Connecting India to the World in Amrit Kaal: ‘Setting the Stage for Indian Civil Aviation @ 2047.

Key Points

• UDAN 5.3 Launch: The inauguration witnessed some high-profile announcements, with the release of UDAN 5.3 being a key feature.
• India's Civil Aviation Growth: The minister noted the tremendous growth of India in its Civil Aviation area with domestic passengers increasing from 60 million (2014) until they are expected to stand at approximately 150 million by end of this year.
• Aviation Infrastructure Development: The minister highlighted the unparalleled steps taken under the guidance of Prime Minister, to strengthen aviation infrastructure such as increasing number of airports from 74 in 2018 to doubled ones at present.
• RCS-UDAN Success: 76 airports in Tier-3 and Tier-4 Regions have been operationalized under the RCS UDAN scheme; this improves last mile connectivity to benefit 1.32 Crore people.
• In all, 21 Greenfield Airports have been given ‘in-principle’ approval by the government of which twelve are already operational.
• Seven Major Announcements: Seven major announcements were made during the Wings India 2024, which included a knowledge paper on civil aviation released, launch of Airbus-Air India Training Centre and manufacturing contracts with TATA ASL and Mahindra Aerospace Structures Pvt. Ltd.