"India is one market that is missing out on aviation's potential as a result of a policy framework that does not support aviation's competitiveness," International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief Tony Tyler said in his address to the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit. Giving examples, he said high taxes, lack of capacity in Mumbai and increasing infrastructure costs in Delhi "are holding back Indian aviation's potential".

Maintaining that Singapore government supported aviation as a strategic industry and the sector contributed 119,000 quality jobs and 5.4 per cent of GDP, Tyler said "not all governments have the same positive approach."

"The stunted growth of Indian aviation comes with an economic cost. India's population is about 240 times the size of Singapore's. But the number of aviation jobs is just about 14 times larger at 1.7 million. And the economic contribution of aviation is still only 0.5 per cent of the Indian economy," he was quoted as saying in a statement by IATA.

"Even considering the differential in GDP per capita between Singapore and India, these numbers tell us that there is tremendous unrealised potential in India," the IATA Director General and CEO said.

"When relationship between industry and government works, the results are brilliant. Policies that support aviation's competitiveness deliver wide-ranging benefits across economies by connecting business to markets," Tyler said.

Quoting figures, he said Asia was driving growth and "shifting aviation's centre of gravity eastward."

In 2010, about 33 per cent of passengers travelled on to, from or within Asia-Pacific, while it was 31 for North America and Europe. By 2015, IATA's passenger forecast anticipates that Asia-Pacific will represent 37 per cent, while traffic associated with Europe and North America will fall to 29 per cent.

Over the same period, total passengers worldwide are expected to rise to 3.55 billion. Of the 877 million additional passengers that will be generated, 212 million are expected to fly on routes associated with China, Tyler said.

In terms of propensity to travel, Asia has "tremendous potential for future growth". The average person in the US travels by air 1.8 times per year, while in Germany the equivalent is one trip annually. For China the average is 0.2 air trips per person per year and for India it is just 0.1.

On the controversial European Union decision to impose a carbon tax on all flights on its airspace, he said the non-European governments saw "this extra-territorial tax collection as an attack on their sovereignty. They are taking action."