India's air passenger traffic is expected to grow at a strong pace of 7 per cent in 2025, supported by a growing middle class and increasing air travel affordability, according to Joshua Ng, Director of US-headquartered Alton Aviation Consultancy.

Bullish on aviation prospects in India, Ng said the country, which contributes approximately 10 per cent of Asia Pacific's domestic and international air traffic demand, has already returned to pre-pandemic levels.

"Such growing demand in turn supports India's massive aviation development programmes including setting up of 150 airports across the country," Ng told PTI on Friday.

He further noted that "India's passenger traffic is expected to grow at a strong pace of 7 per cent in 2025, supported by an order book of nearly 1,900 aircraft among airlines based in the country." 

Besides, "the recent merger between Air India and Vistara is also expected to bring more stability to the industry, with Air India and IndiGo emerging as the two primary players in the full-service and low-cost carrier segments respectively," he underlined.

Giving a global perspective, he said as global air traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels, the aviation industry will continue its long-term growth trend of 4 per cent per annum from 2024 to 2034, supported by a 2.7 per cent annual growth in global GDP.