India's government has issued a 20-year roadmap for civil aviation growth that projects a sixfold increase in the country's passenger numbers, to 1.1 billion by 2040, and a quadrupling in the commercial airline fleet over the same span, to 2,400 aircraft.

The "Vision 2040" roadmap, released on 15 January at an industry conference, also forecasts that the number of airports will increase from 99 in March 2018 to around 190-200. India's top 31 cities by population are foreseen having at least two airports each, with Delhi and Mumbai having three each. The incremental land requirement is estimated at 150,000 acres, and the capital investment at $40-50 billion.

To support the growth of infrastructure, the government may consider establishing a $2 billion fund to support low-traffic airports in their initial operating phases. Land pooling is being considered to keep land acquisition costs low and provide landowners with high-value developed plots in the vicinity of the airports.

Meanwhile, the government sees air cargo throughput quadrupling to 17 million tons, with cargo processed paperlessly and at higher speed. New Delhi expects the country's freighter fleet "to expand multifold with the growth in e-commerce", as it seeks to make India a transshipment hub for South Asia.

Sita has called on the air transport industry to do more to combat the growing risk of cybersecurity threats.

In its latest cybersecurity insights report, the technology provider states that 44% of airports and airlines have a formal information security strategy, while 48% are expected to by 2021.

"The growing risk is well acknowledged in the air transport industry, and spending on cybersecurity is increasing year on year. Yet a lack of resources tight budgets and missing skills remain the key barriers for advancing cybersecurity protection," says Sita's president of Asia Pacific, Sumesh Patel.

Preliminary air transport safety analysis indicates that last year was the worst, in terms of commercial aviation fatalities, for three years.

Lion Air’s loss of a Boeing 737 Max in late October and the take-off crash of a Global Air 737-200 in Cuba accounted for over half of the 530 worldwide fatalities recorded by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

The figure contrasts sharply with the historically low level achieved in 2017 and was instead comparable to the 533 of 2015.

Eleven fatal accidents were taken into account by EASA’s analysis, a number in line with the totals in each of the last four years.

Seven of them involved jet transports while the other four aircraft were propeller-driven, including a Junkers Ju 52 which crashed during a Swiss tourism flight – the only accident involving an operator from EASA member states.

EASA describes the Ju 52 crash as a “unique event” compared with “traditional” airline operations, and points out that no EASA-based carrier was involved in a fatal commercial airline accident last year.

The agency says the incidents and accidents during 2018 are a “reminder that safety should not be taken for granted”, particularly given the encouraging improvement recorded in the previous year.