India, France To Develop Aeronautics Cluster
France President Emannual Macron and India's PM Narendra Modi
France To Partner with India For Aeronautics Cluster
By Sanjay Singh
New Delhi, October 9: India and France are set to launch joint endeavor for the production of civilian airlines. The move is aimed to address growing demands for airlines in India. India is aiming to double airports strength from 74 to 157.
The government has started serious discussions with global aviation infrastructure agencies to fasten the deliveries as domestic air passenger traffic is projected to multifold from the current levels of 376 million by 2030.
Recently, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the government is in the process of pumping around $11 billion for the construction of new airports and expansion of the existing ones.
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The number of airports has doubled in India in the last year, from 74 to 157. The government has targeted to establish another 200 airports in coming 20 to 25 years. The domestic air passenger in India has grown by 2.2 times in just the last ten years alone. The fleet size of scheduled airlines doubled to around 800 with the airlines placing order for 1,200 aircrafts in the coming years.
The major beneficiary would be India and France as Air India and Indigo together have placed orders for nearly 1,500 aircraft. Recently, French aerospace industry association (GIFAS) delegation was in India. Currently, India is the third largest domestic aviation market in the world and one of the fastest growing aviation markets also in the world.
To boost cooperation in the aerospace sector, France and India are planning to develop an aeronautics cluster, French Ambassador to India Thierry Mathou recently spoke at the Civil Aviation Conference here. The French side is working with the Civil Aviation Ministry for the aeronautics cluster, he informed.
Insisting that the partnership between the two countries is not just “strategic” but “universal”, Thierry Mathou stated the exports of French aerospace companies to the country stood at 2.7 billion euros in the first half of 2024.
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A GIFAS delegation of over 100 representatives from 60 French companies arrived New Delhi on Monday and over the next few days they would interact with individual companies as well as leading government organisation, like the ISRO, and the DRDO, to deepen cooperation with India in the defence and aerospace industry.
An MoU was also signed between the GIFAS and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to explore industrial opportunities in both the countries. The other partners from the India in this grouping is the SIDM and Indian Space Association.
According to sources, the defence cooperation between India and France is also special and technically remains as the corner stone of the bilateral relations. The joint military exercises conducted by the Army, Navy and Air Force has not only enhanced the interoperability between the defence forces of both the countries but also underscored strength of our collaboration in defence modernisation.
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