Bangkok, July 8:

India may be among the most happening places in the global aviation field, but its poor airport infrastructure is a major cause of concern and even threatens to retard the robust growth in the sector, international experts say.

With some 400 new aircraft set to join the fleet of Indian carriers at an estimated cost of $80 billion and potential annual passenger traffic set to soar to 180 million over the next few years from the present 50 million, experts say whole system can crumble if attention is not paid to imp-roving airport infrastructure.

“India is going through a huge change in the aviation market. But it also has a challenging path ahead,” said Jaan Albrecht, chief executive of Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance with 17 carriers as members.