Chennai: Commercial aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc has said its 100-160-seater CSeries is expected to take off soon in the Indian skies and that the company is working with the government to find ways for financial institutions to become lessors for airlines.
This comes at a time when Indian airlines are looking at expanding operations to more Tier-II and -III cities.
“I am very excited that eventually we can bring in the CSeries into India. It can offer the latest technology with lower cost of operation, especially as the aviation industry is developing to Tier-II and -III cities,” said Mike Arcamone, president-commercial aircraft, Bombardier.
According to reports, the company has pushed back the first flight of the CSeries three times and recently said it was ready to fly in weeks.
The company has not revealed any timeline to launch the new product in India, but said it would be launched soon, “if the customer demands it”.
Bombardier has already started talks with Indian airlines on the advantages of CSeries aircraft, said Arcamone, who was here.
Advantages
The company claims the CSeries has 12 per cent cost advantage, compared with the new generation aircraft, and compared to old generation plans, the cost advantage is 20 per cent.
So far, Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, which opened its regional sales office in Mumbai three years ago, has handed over 15 aircraft to SpiceJet and three CRJ 700 carriers to Air India. “Right now, SpiceJet is a great advocate for our aircraft,” Arcamone said. The airline has an option to buy 15 more aircraft from Bombardier. Asked about the company’s market share in India, Torbjorn Karlsson, vice-president, sales, Asia Pacific of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said: “We don’t calculate the market share per country. We have the 15 aircraft with SpiceJet, and three CRJ 700 with Air India. If you look at what same type of product with our competition, we have a market of 45-50 per cent.” The company, which sees a consolidation in the aviation sector in the US and a rather mature market in Europe, is focusing on three countries inclduing India for its future business.
“India is very important for our future growth because of the opportunities that are present. Outside North America, South America and Europe, there are three areas I am really focusing — India, Russia and China,” said Arcamone. However, one of the developments the company expects to happen in India is the financial support, which could be in a way of banks acting as lessors.
Though there are some small scale lessors in India, the banks in the country are yet to play a major role in the sector. “I would like to see one of my top 15 lessors to be from India,” he said.
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