Govt Finalizing Roadmap For Manufacturing Of Commercial Aircraft
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Govt To Set Up Special Purpose Vehicle for Aircraft Manufacturing Roadmap
By Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, October 7: The government is on course to create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to finalizing roadmap, to push development and manufacturing of commercial aircraft in India.
Called as Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidhayak, the government plans to set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to devise and build a roadmap for development and manufacturing of an indigenous commercial aircraft in India and is looking to involve multiple stakeholders including large original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) like Airbus and Boeing.
Union Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu recently stated that India is amongst the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets with rapid growth predicted over the coming years. India has for long held the ambition of developing and building its own commercial aircraft.
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Though the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has manufactured small turboprop passenger aircraft in India but the country is yet to have its own civilian jet aircraft.
The plan is still in the early stages and the details would be out once there is something more concrete planned under the SPV which will seek to address critical questions, concerns, and opportunities around developing a robust aircraft manufacturing ecosystem in India, and chalk out an actionable plan.
The expected timeline for the proposed SPV to do the groundwork and work on the aircraft manufacturing plan is five years.
The government is also working on the policy front to promote aircraft manufacturing in India. For instance, the Bhartiya Vayuyan Vidheyak bill, which will replace the nine-decade-old Aircraft Act, has elements—like giving legal backing to design of aircraft—that would encourage manufacturing of aircraft in India.
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India currently has a fleet of over 700 commercial aircraft, a vast majority being single-aisle jets like the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737. Also, Indian airlines cumulatively have around 1,200 aircraft on order with Airbus and Boeing. India is the world’s largest domestic aviation market after the United States (US) and China, and the fastest-growing major aviation market globally.
Apart from having ambitions to develop India’s own commercial aircraft, the government has been pushing OEMs like Airbus and Boeing to set up final assembly lines (FAL) for passenger planes in India. While Airbus is setting up a civilian helicopter FAL and a military aircraft FAL in India in association with the Tata group, the global majors have not yet committed to setting up a commercial aircraft FAL in India.
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