India's airline industry is a mess. Taxesare sky-high, infrastructure¹ is poor and profit margins² are razor thin. Astring of carriers have gone out of business, and many others are struggling to stay afloat.

印度的航空业非常混乱。税收奇高，基础设施落后，利润空间又非常稀薄。已经有好多航空公司破产，剩余的好多航空公司艰难生存。

Yet the big winners might beprice-conscious consumers -- and any carrier strong enough to survive the pricewars that have made India the cheapest place to fly on Earth.

然而，最大的赢家可能就是对价格保持警觉的消费者了，而那些在价格战中生存下来的航空公司让印度成为了世界上飞行票价最低的地方。

Consider this: In India, airlines charge anaverage $10.20 to travel 100 kilometers, according to a survey by Go Euro. Air travelers in China pay twice as much to go thesame distance, and Brazilians pay four times more. Even India's rail lines demand a higher price per kilometer.

考虑一下以下的事实：在印度，航空公司100公里的收费平均是10.2美元，这是GoEuro机构调查后得出的数据。而在中国，相同的距离可能要付两倍的价格，在巴西可能要超过四倍。即使是印度的铁路票价也比机票来得昂贵。

The airlines would like to charge more, but they are locked in a race to capture market share -- sometimes operating flights at a loss. Even Air India, the state-owned recipient³ of seemingly endless bailouts, offers fares that would be more suited to a budget airline.

当然，航空公司肯定想提高票价，但是他们为了争夺市场份额正在进行价格战，以至于有时候都亏损了。即使是经常接受政府救助的国有的印度航空公司所提供的票价都让人觉这是一家廉价航空公司开出的票价。

Helped along by pricing chaos⁴, private carrier Kingfisher Airlines has gone out of business. The government was forcedlate last year to rescue SpiceJet, the country's third largest carrier.

由于定价混乱，私人的翠鸟航空公司已经倒闭。印度政府去年不得不救助该国第三大的香料航空公司。

In total, Indian airlines have reported accumulated losses of more than $10 billion in the last seven years and thereby⁵ increased their cumulative⁶ debt burden to $16 billion, according to a recent report by industry analytics firm Center for Aviation.

总之，印度航空公司在过去7年里总共损失了100多亿美元，所以他们的累积债务负担已经达到160亿美元，这是行业分析公司航空中心最近的一份报告所得出的。

Yet as with many sectors⁷ in India, optimismis creeping in around the edges. Funds from foreign investors⁸ have provided aboost, and analysts⁹ hope that newly-elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi will push through meaningful reforms.

然而，和印度的很多行业一样，印度航空业开始变得乐观起来。外国投资者的资金提振了印度航空业，而分析家们也希望新当选的莫迪能通过有意义的改革。

The potential for rapid growth is hard toignore. India's cities are rapidly growing, and middle-class consumers have money to spend on luxuries like air travel.

显然快速增长的潜力还是不容忽视的。印度城市在快速发展，中产阶级有能力进行奢侈品消费，比如坐飞机。

Anurag Bhatia, Executive Director of Bird Group, a provider of aviation services to India's biggest airports, believe sairlines have a long way to go before tapping the true potential of the market.

印度最大机场的航空服务供应商BirdGroup的行政董事AnuragBhatia认为在航空市场的潜力得到真正开发之前航空公司还有很长的路要走。

"There are 25 to 30 million people that use airplanes in India, whereas there are nearly 300 million that canactually afford to travel but don't because of unavailability of flights or the lack of airports," he said.

“印度有2500-3000万人坐飞机，而有3亿人有能力去旅游，但由于航班和机场的缺乏，导致人们无法出行，”他说。