Highlighting the growth potential of India’s civil aviation space, Union minister K Rammohan Naidu on Thursday said the country might need 4,000 more planes in the next 20 years and 200 more airports are expected to be developed during the same period.

Currently, Indian carriers are operating around 800 planes and more than 1,200 aircraft are on order. The number of airports has doubled to 157 in the last 10 years and the count is expected to rise by 50 in the next 5 years.

“In the next 20 years, we might need another 4,000 aircraft to cater to the demand of the Indian aviation sector,” Naidu said and stressed on the need for further developing the airport ecosystem in the country.