European aircraft majors eye Bangalore

European aircraft majors eye Bangalore
City To Host Training And Maintenance Facilities For 50 ATRs, Over 100 Airbus Planes
The Economic Times

INDIA, especially Bangalore, is making great business sense to European aircraft and engine makers as they gear up to make it a regional hub of sorts.

ATR, Airbus, Snecma are all, more or less, ready for a low decibel entry into India’s tech city to cater to ‘desi’ and overseas customers. At stake are customers acquiring/operating at least 50 ATR and over 100 Airbus aircraft and a huge opportunity to produce quality engine parts at economical prices for Snecma.

First it was Franco-Italian aircraft maker ATR which talked of setting up a training cell in Bangalore for its customer Air Deccan. Now, Airbus is following the same route. Officials said it will have training facilities plus a bank of spares/parts and more engineering personnel present in this city to accommodate at least three big customers.

HAL has also confirmed that it is preparing to sign up with Snecma, a leader in aircraft engines, to make parts in a joint venture here for its global customers.

For ATR, it’s initial fleet of a dozen leased 50-seater planes with Deccan will be followed by at least 30 more in the coming years. The numbers may be higher if the market maintains its near-frenetic pace of growth. Officials say the aircraft maker will commit more resources to India, especially Bangalore, if more players opt for its product.

Incidentally, both Jet Airways with eight new-gen ATR-72-500s and Indian Airlines with some of the older vintage, are its other customers. Indian Airlines is already talking of getting another batch of six or more planes soon.

Airbus has a firm order for 30 A320s from Air Deccan, 10 firm and 20 options from Kingfisher and 43 planes of different sizes and flying capabilities from Indian Airlines.

Air India has yet to select 50 mid- and large-sized aircraft to drive its growth plans. Besides, Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Indian Airlines are also scouting for some mid-size planes like A340, B777, A330 and B767 to fuel its foray into markets in the Far-East and the West.

Besides, many budget airlines in Asia are voting for Airbus planes, all of which makes it essential to up the ante on its spares and maintenance service in the region. Since these facilities will be in joint ventures with local partners and run on commercial lines, it means services at better prices for regional customers. The two new budget carriers can economise on costs by accessing training facilities locally.

Incidentally, Indian Airlines operates A320 simulators at its academy in Hyderabad which it also lets out to other airlines whenever its own pilots are not being trained.