Hyderabad, Mar 9 (IANS): Forecasting India's aviation market in the next two decades, Boeing commercial airplanes Senior Vice-President (Sales), Asia Pacific and India, Dr Dinesh Keskar on Thursday said airlines in India will require 2,100 airplanes costing $290 billion.

He was making a power-point presentation on the first day of Wings India 2018 aviation show at Begumpet airport here.

He said India is recording more than 20 per cent growth in air traffic, which is far above the global average of 7.3 per cent. The domestic traffic exceeded 116.7 million passengers last year.

Over the last five years, Indian domestic passenger traffic has been at the highest levels and the appreciation in the rupee value has helped airlines maintain the profitability.

This is despite the higher fuel costs. Lower fares and increased load factors have enhanced the profitability.

He pointed out that fuel prices have risen 81 per cent since early 2016. Indian carriers pay 110 per cent more for fuel than the US carriers.

Talking about the order book at hand, Dr Dinesh said that out of 4,306 orders from 92 countries for 737 MAX, it has delivered 74 aircraft to 17 customers as of January 19.

Delivery of 737 MAX for Jet Airways and for Spice Jet is slated for mid-2018.

Boeing continues to develop new fuel efficient airplanes to address the need of customers particularly India.