Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia addresses the inaugural session of Wings India 2024, at Begumpet Airport, in Hyderabad on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Aerospace majors such as Boeing and Airbus must plan to set up a “final assembly line” (FAL) in India, where airlines were placing some of the world’s biggest aircraft orders, said Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia.
“The time is ripe for manufacturing majors to set up a FAL,” Mr. Scindia told reporters at the Wings India 2024 aero show. “But some have a top-down approach, while others have a bottom-up approach, where you bring ancillary players up to speed so that they begin producing aircraft parts and grow from there,” he added.
The minister also reiterated “tremendous concern” over fleet groundings due to problems with Pratt and Whitney engines, which he said had hit a range of aircraft in the country including Boeing 737s, Airbus A320 Neos, Q-400s and ATRs. “Most of them are grounded due to supply chain issues plaguing Pratt and Whitney,” he noted.
In November, IndiGo had said that it expected 30 to 40 more aircraft to be grounded between January and March 2024 after the latest powder metal issue, which could lead to cracking of engine parts. This figure is in addition to almost 40 IndiGo planes already on the ground because of issues with engines supplied by the U.S. company.
The minister, however, said that despite these concerns airlines continued to add capacity and almost 30 aircraft had been added by various airlines in 2023, and that there were 664 aircraft operating currently. He added that various Indian airlines such as Air India, Air India Express and Akasa Air planned to add “five to eight” aircraft per month.
(The writer is in Hyderabad at the invitation of Air India)