Business
Cruising Heights
Managing the Crowded Skies
The air traffic management system in India is straining but adapting-and preparing for the next decade. VISHAL DUGGAL takes a close look at where the real bottlenecks lie, what tools are in active use to manage demand-capacity mismatch in one of the most dynamic civil aviation markets in the world.
9 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
The Runway to Rejuvenation
As futuristic greenfield Airports rise from empty fields, existing hubs are being reinvented in a breathtaking display of engineering and vision. VISHAL DUGGAL reports on greenfield dreams and brownfield upgrades.
8 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Data-Driven Blueprint for Airport Growth
AAI is driving airport expansion through a data-driven, demand-based strategy that prioritises high-growth corridors, UDAN-critical routes, and regions with strong economic potential.
7 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Engines Driving India's Global Expansion
India's aviation sector is expanding rapidly across both narrow-body and long-haul operations, shaping a new era of fleet and network growth. With CFM LEAP engines powering domestic expansion and GEnx engines enabling efficient international operations, engine performance is becoming a strategic differentiator. VIKRAM RAI, Chief Executive Officer, South Asia, GE Aerospace, outlines this ambition.
2 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
India's Air Cargo Outlook 2026: Growth Without Comfort
India's air cargo sector enters 2026 with momentum— but also with unresolved structural weaknesses that policy has yet to confront.
2 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Star Air: Redefining India's Short-Haul Future
India’s aviation story has long been dominated by the big, shiny numbers—record narrowbody orders, mega-hub expansions, and the relentless march of metro-to-metro traffic.
7 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Thales- Driving Self-Reliance in Aviation
India's fast-growing MRO sector is creating strong demand for advanced avionics support, and Thales' new facility near New Delhi is stepping in to meet it. Since opening in March 2025, the centre has rapidly scaled to serve major airlines, including an 11-year IndiGo contract covering current and future A320 family aircraft. ANKUR KANAGLEKAR, Vice-President (India), Thales, explains how the company is strengthening India's path toward aviation self-reliance.
6 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Regional Demand Reshapes India's Fleet
India's regional aviation market is expanding rapidly, driven by strong Tier-2 and Tier-3 demand and a surge in new routes and airports.
6 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
“Aequs Powers India's Aviation Ascent”
Aequs is redefining India's rise as a global aviation powerhouse with a fully integrated aerospace ecosystem in Belagavi. Its end-to-end capabilities accelerate production, strengthen supply chains, and anchor India's ascent as a manufacturing hub. RAJEEV KAUL, MD, Aequs, outlines and elaborates on this vision.
4 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Building the Foundations of India's Aviation Future
India's aviation sector is undergoing a deeper transformation than traffic numbers or fleet orders can reveal. The country is shifting from being a high-growth market to building end-to-end aviation capability across manufacturing, maintenance, engineering, and talent. This ecosystem-level change signals a future where India not only expands its skies but sustains and powers them through its own strengths. SALIL GUPTE, President, Boeing India and South Asia, outlines how Boeing is part of this story.
3 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Wings India 2026 From Aspiring Soar to Global Ascent
India's aviation story has long been told through growth curves such as passenger numbers, fleet orders, and airport counts, but at critical moments, the industry pauses to ask a more consequential question: what kind of aviation power is India becoming? Wings India 2026 arrives at precisely such a juncture, when scale alone is no longer the headline and execution has become the real measure of ambition. This is a moment not of projection, but of proof. Nidhi Sharma reports
10 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Turboprops Power India's Growth
ATR turboprops are driving India's regional connectivity boom, linking tier 2 and tier 3 cities across short routes where they deliver unmatched economics. ATR is poised to anchor the next wave of regional growth, enabling affordable, reliable air travel for millions
6 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
The great Indian MRO rebuild
Aircraft maintenance is rarely glamorous, but it is where aviation ambition is either validated or exposed.
10+ min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Pratt & Whitney Deepens Its India Footprint
India has become a core pillar of Pratt & Whitney's global growth, powered by a booming aviation market and a rapidly expanding fleet footprint. ASHISH SARAF, Vice President & Country Head, India Pratt & Whitney, talks on all this and the RTX Business.
5 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Trent Engines Power India's Next Growth Phase
India's rapid economic rise and expanding aviation ecosystem have made it a priority market for Rolls-Royce, aligning with deeper India-UK cooperation and the country's Viksit Bharat vision. As Air India and IndiGo scale up with Trent-powered widebodies, Rolls-Royce is anchoring long-term growth through investment, technology partnerships, and advanced engine support systems. SASHI MUKUNDAN, Executive Vice President (Transformation), Rolls-Royce India, explains the roadmap
4 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Building India's Aerospace Supply Chain
CSIR-NAL is building a resilient indigenous aerospace supply chain by supporting partners across component manufacturing, certification, and quality assurance. Through deep engagement with MSMES-covering LRUS, standards compliance, and technical handholding it is strengthening capabilities while reducing financial and developmental risk. DR ABHAY A PASHILKAR, Director, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories, outlines many facets of this collaboration in an exclusive interaction
8 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Trusted Partner for Modern Fleet Maintenance
GMR Aero Technic has built a strong reputation across India, the Middle East, and South-east Asia, reinforced by Akasa Air's new three-year agreement. Supporting next-generation aircraft like the Boeing 737 MAX, the company continues to deliver reliable, on-time maintenance backed by deep technical expertise. ASHOK GOPINATH, President, GMR Aero Technic, outlines the company's vision.
6 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Inside the Airshow That Defines India's Aviation Mood
Airshows are a strange and wonderful beast.
2 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
CAE: Building India's Future Pilot Pipeline
As India's aviation market accelerates, CAE is expanding its advanced training ecosystem to help airlines build a strong, future-ready pilot pipeline.
6 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Strategic Mobility for a Rising India
Business aviation is emerging as a strategic mobility enabler for India, strengthening economic resilience, emergency response, and regional access.
5 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
SITA Powers India's Biometric Future
SITA is driving India's largest biometric-enabled airport transformation through its partnership with AAI under the DigiYatra initiative.
4 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
How cargo rewired the Market in 2025
India's air cargo sector is ending 2025 at a moment of sharp contradiction.
6 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
India's narrowbody reckoning
For years, narrowbody aircraft symbolised the democratisation of flying in India. Today, they represent something more complex: a stress test of the ecosystem that supports high-frequency, low-margin aviation at scale. As fleets mature and utilisation remains intense, the industry is learning that sustainable growth depends less on how many aircraft are ordered and more on how reliably they stay in service.
7 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
THE 90 MINUTE RUSH !
To say that the Indian aviation market has grown at a pace unmatched by any of the world's major economies is to stress the obvious.
2 min |
January 2026
Cruising Heights
Training India's Business Jet Pilots
India's expanding business aviation market faces a critical challenge in training and retaining skilled jet pilots, with no local simulators forcing reliance on global networks amid regulatory hurdles and CBTA adoption.
4 min |
December 2025
Cruising Heights
THE YEAR OF VISIBLE CHANGE FOR AIR INDIA
Something unusual is happening at Air India, the kind of shift that aviation insiders feel before the public even sees it.
9 min |
December 2025
Cruising Heights
REGIONAL CONTENDER
China's COMAC is targeting exports of its C919 and C909 civil jetliners
8 min |
December 2025
Cruising Heights
PROPULSIVE POSSIBILITIES
This year's Dubai airshow provided an insight into next-generation propulsion technologies for civil aviation.
10+ min |
December 2025
Cruising Heights
TWIN ENGINES OF GROWTH HOW NMIA AND NIA WILL REWRITE INDIA'S AIR CARGO STORY
India is on the cusp of an air-cargo transformation unlike anything seen since the post-liberalisation boom.
7 min |
December 2025
Cruising Heights
CSMIA SETS NEW OPERATIONAL RECORD IN SINGLE DAY ATMS
On November 21, 2025, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) achieved a remarkable operational milestone amid the festive season's travel boom, recording 1,036 Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) in a single 24-hour period (from 00:00 IST).
1 min |