IAF has plans on the anvil for other acquisitions — additional C-130J aircraft and the C-17 deal cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security—close to the MMRCA project in dollar terms

After a successful Aero India event early this year, SP’s Aviation is looking forward to the Paris Air Show commencing from June 20. The show at Le Bourget gains significance from an Indo-French perspective as efforts are on to further strengthen bilateral relationships between the two countries in many areas and most specifically in the realm of defence.

That French Dassault Rafale has made it to the ‘finals’ of the Indian Air Force’s acquisition plans for 126 medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) along with the European consortium’s Eurofighter Typhoon, edging out contenders from the US, Russia and Sweden, will be more than a talking point at Le Bourget. Both the ‘finalists’ are on campaigns to impress the Indian authorities. The French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet was in Delhi and was soon followed by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The campaign, we believe, will move to Paris and SP’s Aviation team will be there to report and analyse from the ground. Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia gives a fresh perspective on the MMRCA deal and also how there are various other market opportunities for global defence majors to tap. IAF has plans on the anvil for other acquisitions—additional C-130J aircraft from Lockheed Martin and also the Boeing’s C-17 deal cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security—close to the MMRCA project in dollar terms.

The June issue focuses on ‘Emergence of FBOs in India’ wherein we find that the aviation industry and general aviation in particular, has been clamouring for infrastructure facilities, including government push for setting up fixed-based operations. Sucheta Das Mohapatra and R. Chandrakanth in their article find that the industry has been strapped considerably for want of FBOs, while there has been a good deal of aircraft acquisitions in the general aviation sector. No doubt, the opportunities for opening FBOs in India exist, the fillip has to come from the government now.

On similar lines, in another article Chandrakanth dwells on how secondary markets in the civil aviation sector will play a decisive role in shaping airline business. Considering the growth in passenger movement from smaller towns to the metros, the concept of regional airlines is gaining currency and some players, SpiceJet for one, have plans to start operations soon. Here again, infrastructure facilities have to be commensurate with the growth projections and aspirations of the airlines and they have to be on ‘fast-track’ mode.

In the centenary year of Indian civil aviation, there have been several programmes to celebrate, to take stock and to look ahead. In the conference organised by ASSOCHAM and Ministry of Civil Aviation, there was tremendous enthusiasm on the sunrise sector, though airline representatives were not gung-ho about many regulations. The report on the conference highlights various perspectives on making the aviation industry grow in a healthy manner. Andrew Herdman of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) calls for inputs from the emerging markets of Asia when it comes to international regulatory standards which currently is dictated by the US and Europe.

There are two features in this issue to do with engines, while Joseph Noronha looks at the strengths of large engines, there is an interview with Pratt & Whitney and how they are enthused with the IndiGo deal for 300 engines for Airbus A320neo.

Happy times, should we say. Nevertheless, happy reading !