The middle class population in the country is increasing rapidly. For this class, traveling by air is no longer a luxury but it has become a necessity. This is the reason why domestic airline companies are rapidly expanding their fleet. The country’s largest airline IndiGo had placed an order for 300 A320 Neon aircraft in 2019. There are currently 730 such aircraft in its fleet. Tata Group is also preparing to place a big order. Apart from this, many small companies can also order planes. In total, in the next 10 years, Indian airline companies can order 2000 aircraft.
Import boom
Aircraft manufacturing companies are also buying some spare parts from India. But the government is not satisfied with this. It wants Boeing and Airbus to set up their final assembly lines in India. Last month, the Commerce Department had issued an alert on the increasing import of aircrafts in the country. During April-September, the country’s import of aircrafts increased by 56.5 per cent, turbo jets by 34 per cent and helicopters by 42 per cent. After this, the Aviation Ministry started the work of formulating a strategy to reduce the trade deficit.
The final assembly line means it will have its entire supply chain ecosystem in India. These include from making the body of the aircraft to wings, assembled engine, seat etc. Experts say that this entire process may take time. But it should start from now so that its ecosystem is ready in the next three-four years. The government also believes that this is the right time to take the next step towards manufacturing aircraft in the country.
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Where are aircraft made
European company Airbus has four facilities all over the world. It is located in Toulouse, France, Hamburg, Germany, Tianjin, China and Mobile, USA. The Chinese facility began operations in 2008 and rolled out the first A321 in November last year. At the same time, all the assembly lines of American company Boeing are in America only. In October last year, Tata Group and Airbus had announced to make C-295 aircraft for the Air Force. Till now only government company Hindustan Aeronautics manufactures aircraft for the army.
Source: navbharattimes.indiatimes.com
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