The Hindu Business Line : Aircraft makers bullish on India

THE global aircraft manufacturers are bullish on the prospects in the domestic aviation market predicting that India would require more than 1,600 aircraft over the next 20 years.

While the European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus Industrie has almost doubled to 935 the number of aircraft India would require till 2026, the American aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, has said that though it was not yet raising its earlier forecast of India requiring about 500 aircraft over the next 20 years, there was heavy pressure on these numbers.

"The delivery of single aisle aircraft will dominate the Indian market although there will also be demand for larger aircraft. These estimates are pessimistic and not optimistic," said the Executive Vice-President, Marketing and Contracts, and President, Airbus India, Dr Kiran Rao.

Demand may go up

The Senior Vice-President, Sales, Boeing, Dr Dinesh Keskar, said the demand for aircraft was likely to be higher than estimated at present. "However, we do not feel it will be as high as has been estimated by Airbus," said Dr Keskar.

Similarly, the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, has predicted that India would need over 165 aircraft of the 30-120 seaters category till 2026. "India is likely to account for almost 40 per cent of the demand of the Asia-Pacific region till 2026," said the Managing Director, Asia-Pacific, Civil Aircraft Market, Mr J. Bruce Peddle.

In the recent past, the aircraft manufacturers have seen airlines place huge orders with both Boeing and Airbus. Among the large orders placed with Airbus Industrie include Indigo Airline's decision to acquire 100 aircraft and Indian Airlines finally signing the deal to acquire 43 aircraft. Similarly, Boeing has received an order for 68 aircraft from Air India.