Air travel booms in India, strains creaky infrastructure

A fast-growing economy and an expanding middle class have made India the world's fastest growing air travel market. The number of passengers grew 20% last year and airlines are announcing flights to new destinations almost every week. And yet, Indian airlines are in distress. Experts say the explosion in air travel of the past decade has happened despite major hurdles in the form of high jet fuel prices, lack of aircraft maintenance infrastructure, choked airports working beyond their capacities and fierce fare wars that have many carriers in the red. Although the problems appear huge, the size and potential of the Indian market continues to draw new players. Out of a 1.2b population, only about 70m Indians fly on domestic routes in a year, just a quarter of the size of air travel in China which has a similar population. <br/>