EADS, Eurocopter and several other aerospace products, is planning to significantly scale up its presence in India and its sourcing from Indian companies.
EADS, the European consortium that manufactures Airbus, Eurocopter and several other aerospace products, is planning to significantly scale up its presence in India and its sourcing from Indian companies.
According to Christian Duhain, head of EADS International Development, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, the Airbus Engineering Centre would be scaling up its activities over the next few months. “We are planning to have a headcount of 200 engineers this year,” Duhain said.
The Centre, which is involved in design and development of Airbus models including the latest A380, currently has around 30 engineers. “We plan to bring to the centre work from other parts of the group,” he said. EADS is also setting up an Airbus Training Centre in Bangalore.
EADS will step up outsourcing to Indian firms, especially to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Duhain said the company will jack up its order to HAL for delivery of doors for single-aisle Airbus models.
In 2007, EADS sourced orders of €100 million from its Tier-I and
Tier-II Indian suppliers. “Our goal is to increase this amount 10 times in the next 10 years,” Duhain said.
“India has enough skilled people and an industrial base. We believe this country can contribute not only to its own market, but also has an industrial capacity for exports,” Duhain said.
Airbus currently has a 230 aircraft backlog for India, and a 75% market share. The company is producing one aircraft per week for India, which is “among our top markets,” Duhain said.
According to Duhain, EADS does not foresee any major scale back in commercial bookings from India. “We have some airlines requesting to try and make deliveries smoother,” Duhain said, referring to requests for postponement of delivery of already booked aircraft. “We have had no cancellations, but only reschedule requests,” he added.
The company forecasts India would require at least 1,000 aircraft of various sizes over the next two decades. Besides, EADS also sees a huge potential in the helicopter market. “The commercial business is still not at the level India should be. We see a huge potential in private, commercial, helicopter tourism, etc and also in para-public-police sectors.”
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