India's air passenger traffic is expected to grow six-fold to 1.1 billion and the number of operational airports increases to around 200 in 2040, according to the ministry of civil aviation's vision document.

India was the seventh largest aviation market with 187 million passengers -- travelling to, from and within India -- in the financial year 2017-18

"The passenger traffic is expected to grow six-fold to around 1.1 billion. India has one of the largest aircraft order books currently with pending deliveries of over 1,000 aircraft," the document from the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) said.

The fleet of commercial planes is likely to rise to 2,359 in March 2040 from 622 in March 2018. "India may have around 190-200 operational airports in 2040. Its top 31 cities may have two airports, and the cities of Delhi and Mumbai three each.

CNBC-TV18 spoke to experts to review India's airport infrastructure and find how far behind the curve are we, and what will it take to get to that number of 200 operational airports by 2040 from the current 75.

First Published:Mar 7, 2019 11:28 PM IST