Hyderabad Aerospace & Aero Park Updates

[Prodigist]

Originally Posted by kdlara007

I believe Dassault has some plans for MRO in Hyderabad. Hasn't they? There should be a news article regarding this somewhere in this thread.

Looks like it was only for business jets. Wonder what the current status is..

http://www.business-standard.com/ind...erabad/424929/

[Prodigist]

-del-

[Gudavalli]

Cathay Pacific not keen to invest in Indian carriers

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Wednesday said though the passenger carrier is buoyed by the traffic potential out of India, it is not interested in infusing capital into any domestic Indian carrier now.
"Currently we are not looking at investments into any of the Indian airlines. Our business model is not allowing for the same," Tom Wright, general manager, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, told IANS.
Wright was speaking at the sidelines of the airline's announcement of new business class cabin and its new premium economy class cabin on Delhi-Hong Kong route from Oct 29.
The airline's current stand on FDI is no different from many other international majors like Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic and Etihad Airways who have said they are not keen on investing in India at the moment.
These carriers so far were not allowed to directly invest in Indian carriers for security reasons, although 49 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) by non-airline players was allowed. The government last month allowed foreign airlines to invest up to 49 percent in domestic carriers.
The airline said the increase in airport charges at the national capital's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport is detrimental to the growth of passenger traffic and hard on airlines struggling to maintain their margins.
"Such high airport charges are not with a long term view. Indian airports are some of the most expensive in the world and this is hard on us to grow passenger traffic and our margins."
On April 24, 2012 Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had permitted DIAL to increase airport charges at IGI Airport like landing, parking, housing, fuel throughput and aeronautical charges by a whopping 345 percent for next two years.
DIAL was also allowed the airport operator to collect Rs.200 from departing domestic and Rs.1,300 from departing international passengers. The charges became applicable in May.
Meanwhile, the airline said that it was buoyed about the passenger traffic growth from India to several destinations like Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Japan in the Far East and other places in Southeast Asia.
"There is a tremendous potential for passenger traffic growth from India. We are seeing growth in all segments like business and leisure traffic. We are also looking at expanding our services to other Indian cities like Kolkata and Hyderabad soon," Wright said.
The company will be flying to Kolkata with four flights per week from Nov 2, 2012. The service will be operated from its subsidiary Dragonair.
The airline will enter the Hyderabad sector on its own with four flights per week from Dec 2.
The airline is also said to be looking at setting up its own lounge in New Delhi, as none of its "oneworld" inter-airline alliance partners has such a facility in the country.
"We are looking at setting up the lounge in India. This may come up in New Delhi," he said.

[swajayr]

old news, however was not sure if posted earlier.apologies if repost.

indian Rotorcraft Holds Ground Breaking Ceremony For New Helicopter Production Facility in Hyderabad

ndian Rotorcraft is pleased to announce that a ground breaking ceremony was held today at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, marking the start of construction of a new helicopter production facility and a new step in the development of the Indian aerospace industry. The ground breaking ceremony was conducted in the presence of Mr. Ratan N Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons; Mr. Bruno Spagnolini, CEO, AgustaWestland and other dignitaries. Indian Rotorcraft is a joint venture company formed by Tata Sons and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, that will assemble, customise and flight test new helicopters for the worldwide market. The joint venture will initially start to produce the 8-seat AW119Ke light helicopter, with production commencing from mid-2013.



Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, said at the ceremony “The project is integral to our plans in the aerospace sector and we look forward to an enduring and successful partnership with AgustaWestland for fostering the growth of the Indian aerospace sector.”
Mr. Bruno Spagnolini, CEO of AgustaWestland added “We are very pleased through our joint venture with Tata Sons to be playing an important role in the development of the Indian aerospace industry. Not only will this new facility be able to build helicopters for the Indian market but importantly it will supply helicopters to AgustaWestland customers around the world.” He added “Indian Rotorcraft will initially create jobs for more than 70 highly skilled staff who will be trained by AgustaWestland. We see great potential to expand this facility in the future to become a support centre and production centre for other helicopter types.”



The Tata Group comprises over 100 operating companies in seven business sectors: communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. The Group has operations in more than 80 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 85 countries. The total revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $83.3 billion (around Rs3,796.75 billion) in 2010-11, with 58 per cent of this coming from business outside India. Tata companies employ over 425,000 people worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for more than 140 years for its adherence to strong values and business ethics. Every Tata company or enterprise operates independently. Each of these companies has its own board of directors and shareholders, to whom it is answerable. There are 31 publicly listed Tata enterprises and they have a combined market capitalisation of about $89.29 billion (as on March 7, 2012), and a shareholder base of 3.6 million. The major Tata companies are Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Tata Communications and Indian Hotels. AgustaWestland has been present in India since the 1930s when the Westland Wapiti was the very first aircraft flown by the Indian Air Force, and then over 40 years ago AgustaWestland commenced the supply and support of the Indian Navy’s Sea King fleet. More recently it has achieved significant success with its commercial helicopter range for VIP and corporate transport, offshore oil and gas support and general charter operations. Nearly 50 AgustaWestland commercial helicopters have been sold in India in the last six years including almost 20 AW139 medium twins.

[sriece19]

Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Receives Carbon Accreditation

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Hyderabad, has received Airport Carbon Accreditation at Level 2 –‘Reduction’ for its efforts in managing and reducing carbon emissions.

The Airport Carbon Accreditation certification was presented to RGIA on 8 November during the 8th ACI Asia-Pacific Small Airports Seminar organized by ACI Asia-Pacific and hosted by GMR Hyderabad International Airports Ltd (GHIAL).

Mr. Vikram Jaisinghani, CEO of GHIAL, operator of RGIA, said, “This accreditation is a significant milestone in the advancement of airport’s overall sustainability strategy as it involved calculating the carbon footprint of RGIA, using internationally recognised methodology and independent verification. RGIA has compiled an independently verified carbon footprint and succeeded in reducing their overall emissions and carbon footprint over the past number of years.”

On the same occasion, Mr. P.S. Nair, CEO-Corporate, Airport Sector of GMR Airports Limited was also presented with the Airport Carbon Accreditation certificate for Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, another GMR-led airport in India, which was accredited at Level 2 – ‘Reduction’ in July this year.

Regional Director of ACI Asia-Pacific, Mrs. Patti Chau said, “It was this month last year that Airport Carbon Accreditation was introduced in Asia Pacific and I am indeed very pleased to see that 6 airports in the region have been accredited and 3 are even accredited at Level 2 – ‘Reduction’, including RGIA.”

Airport Carbon Accreditation is the institutionally endorsed program that independently assesses and recognises airports’ efforts to manage and reduce their CO2 emissions.

Participating airports can be certified at 4 progressive levels of accreditation as follows: ‘Mapping’, ‘Reduction’, ‘Optimisation’, and ‘Neutrality’.

First launched by ACI Europe in 2009, the programme received support from ICAO and was extended to the Asia Pacific region in November 2011.

Airport Carbon Accreditation is administered by WSP Environment & Energy, an international consultancy appointed to enforce the accreditation criteria for airports. The administration of the programme is overseen by an independent Advisory Board.

Airports must have carbon footprints independently verified in accordance with ISO14064 (Greenhouse Gas Accounting). Evidence of this must be provided to the administrator together with all claims regarding carbon management processes which must also be independently verified.

[sriece19]

British Air to up frequency from Hyderabad, Chennai

British Airways is planning to add one more flight each from Hyderabad and Chennai to London from March. It currently operates five flights a week each from these two cities.

The expansion in the route network will translate into an additional 200 seats per week each from Hyderabad and Chennai, said Christopher Fordyce , regional commercial manager (South Asia), British Airways, while addressing the media here.

With this, the total number of flights being operated by the airline from India will go up to 47 per week. Currently, BA operates from Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
“We are looking at expanding our operation in the growth markets with major focus on giving better customer experience, increasing technology and adopting new menus in the flight,” he said.

'India an expensive market'
According to him, India is a significantly costly place to run an airline. “Major factors include increase in fuel cost, rise in airport fee and other related costs in the aviation sector,” he said.

Stating that high aviation costs in the country had impacted the airline's profitability, he, however, said they were less impacted than the competitors due to the company’s plane structure.

The airline though sees India as a growth market. India was the second largest market for the British Airways after the United States. “Globally, there is a slowdown in the aviation industry , while India, being a large market, was somehow protected from the macro scenario,” he said.

[sriece19]

'Hyderabad as cargo hub can make exports, imports cheaper'

Hyderabad, Nov 30 (IANS) Development of Hyderabad as logistic hub for air cargo can make exports and imports cheaper by saving $100,000 on each international freighter routing through different destinations in India, said a top official of Hyderabad airport.

With its central location and the world-class facilities, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here is ideally suited to be the cargo hub of the country, he said.
However, this requires improving the infrastructure and streamlining the process like 24X7 custom clearance and reducing the import dwell time, said D.P. Hemanth, chief operating officer, hub development, cargo, free trade zone, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), which operates the Hyderabad airport.
A Boeing 747 or Airbus A380 coming to Delhi, flying two hours to Mumbai, another two hours to Bangalore and then flying back to Frankfurt, is spending an additional $80,000 to $100,000, he said.

"This is what happening now because you don't have a logistic hub. If your bring these wide-bodied aircrafts to a central point of the country and connect to rest of the country through road, rail as well as domestic freighter services, this money can be saved making exports and imports cheap," he said.
Addressing a conference on exports organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said the import dwell time in India is anywhere between five to six days where it is just half an hour in Dubai and Singapore.

In terms of volumes, 10 percent of the country's exports are carried by air but in terms of value, it is 40 percent or Rs.320 billion because air cargo is preferred mode of transport for high value and perishable goods.
Hemanth pointed out that the logistic cost in India is 12 to 14 percent of GDP where as it is only four to five percent in the developed countries.
"By speeding the exports and by reducing the inventory carry cost, the country can save 10 percent of GDP and saving of interest costs on the cargo alone will triple the turnover of exporters," he said.

With the officials of Agriculture Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) pointing out that a bulk of agri products from Andhra Pradesh were going through Mumbai Airport, Hemant said the airport would tap agri exports by replicating the Pharma terminal.

The airport has India's only dedicated pharmaceutical handling zone, the design of which has been borrowed by Lufthansa to develop a similar facility in Frankfurt.
Hemanth said the other advantages of developing Hyderabad as a cargo hub is GHIAL's plans to develop a city around the airport with healthcare, leisure, education, hotels, a logistic park, free trade zone and other facilities.
He said the free trade zone had already become operational. It is an area where one can export or import without having to pay duty as it does not come under domestic tariff area.

The official said the airport developed under private public partnership mode and commissioned in 2008 was witnessing robust growth at 13 percent CAGR with export alone growing at 45 percent.
"This is the only airport in last two years which despite recession has grown. All airports around the world showed minus 10 percent growth but last year we grew by 10 percent," he added.

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has so far generated 10,000 jobs and attracted investment of $1.7 billion.

[sriece19]

Cathay Pacific to launch Hyderabad-Hong Kong flights from Dec 4

Hyderabad, Nov 30 — Cathay Pacific will be launching a direct flight between Hyderabad and Hong Kong from Dec 4.

The non-stop four-time weekly service will not only connect Hyderabad to Hong Kong but would also provide onward connectivity to several destinations in the US and the Asia Pacific, said an official of GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here.

D. P. Hemanth, chief operating officer, hub development, cargo, free trade zone, GHIAL, said this while addressing a conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
On concerns raised by representatives from information technology over low international connectivity, Hemanth said one of the constraints was the bilaterals. "We don't get as many bilaterals as we would like to because bilaterals are negotiations between two countries," he explained.

On Lufthansa pulling out of Hyderabad, the official said it took the decision for a very odd reason.

"They had an internal issue of load stocking. They want to take passengers from India to Europe and from Europe to the US. Most of our IT folks from here go directly to the US. They had yield challenge and they could not spare an additional airframe. We went even upto Lufthansa board to talk to them," he said.

Hemanth pointed out that even the last flight of Lufthansa had 97 percent load factor and that was the average for six months. The German carrier stopped Hyderabad-Frankfurt thrice weekly flight late last year.

Earlier, KLM had stopped its Hyderabad-Amsterdam flight. Hemanth pointed out that KLM pulled back in 2009 during the first recession period.

He, however, said various airlines started additional frequencies from Hyderabad.
"Emirates is operating daily three wide-body connections to Dubai which connects not just Dubai but rest of the world." He said Oman Air and Qatar Airways were also having good number of frequencies from Hyderabad.

[sriece19]

Cathay Pacific starts direct Hyderabad-Hong Kong flights

Cathay Pacific has launched its direct flight between Hong Kong and Hyderabad, as per a Business Standard report. The first flight of the four-day weekly A-330-300 service landed at the GMR-operated Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad recently.

The aircraft has both business and economy class configuration. With the Hyderabad service, Cathay Pacific now has 46 flights departing each week from India to Hong Kong, according to Tom Wright, Country Manager (South Asia, Wet Asia and Africa). The airline company had recently increased the frequency of its Chennai-Hong Kong-Chennai flights to daily service from the four-days-in-a-week service.

"This addition reinforces our commitment to the Indian market and I believe in its potential for long-term growth. From our perspective this has been a strong year. We added two destinations and increased frequencies to Chennai. We are growing fast. Even though the world economy is slowing down and India's GDP too falling down to 5.3 per cent, we still see a strong demand," Wright added.

Wright said the flight from Hyderabad not only connects the city to Hong Kong but also to mainland China, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other destinations in North America, North Asia, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Describing Hong Kong as best gateway to the rest of the world, he pointed out that Cathay Pacific has a huge network of 170 destinations in 42 countries.

“Introduction of this new destination will play a very important role in promoting tourism, as Hyderabad has always been the favourite holiday destination for residents abroad. Similarly, it will open a direct window for the people of Hyderabad to choose Hong Kong as an exciting holiday destination and enjoy the dynamic city,” said Vikram Jaisinghani, CEO, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited.

[holaindia]

Are there any Indian companies planning to build commercial passenger aircrafts ?

[sriece19]

Hyderabad airport sets up exclusive ‘Cargo Apron’

HYDERABAD, DEC. 5:
The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has commissioned an exclusive Cargo Apron, capable of handling Code F ( e.g. Boeing747-8F, B747-400F, Airbus A380 type) aircraft, into service.

The Airport is now positioned as "Pharma Hub" of the country constituting about 70 per cent exports being pharmaceuticals. Dedicated cargo apron is now an imperative to accommodate wide body aircraft to boost and sustain cold chain from shippers’ premises to consignee premises.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Vikram Jaisinghani, CEO-GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) said, "This Cargo Apron upgradation will help RGIA to conveniently cater to heavy international freighters which require increased pavement strength. Also, the revamped Apron space will accommodate more number of Code-F aircraft, thus enhancing the Cargo apron capacity at RGIA."

[sriece19]

Hyderabad airport adjudged best cargo airport

Hyderabad, Dec 11 (IANS) Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has bagged the 'best cargo airport and best cargo terminal of the year' award of the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), an official said Tuesday.
ACAAI, the national association representing the air cargo industry in India, promotes growth, development and professionalism in the Indian cargo agency business.
Vikram Jaisinghani, chief executive officer (CEO) of GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), which operates RGIA, in a statement said it was an honour and a prestigious moment for RGIA to be nominated and recognised by customers and stakeholders across the spectrum.
"The award further motivates us to achieve many more milestones towards our vision of transforming RGIA into a logistic hub of India," he said.
A new upgraded cargo apron was recently inaugurated at RGIA, which can now accommodate more number of Code-F and heavier cargo aircraft and also reduce ground time for freighters.

[sriece19]

Turkish Airlines eyes expansion in India; add Hyderabad, Kolkata as new destinations

NEW DELHI: Turkey's national carrier Turkish Airlines plans to double flights between Delhi and Istanbul and add Hyderabad and Kolkata as new destinations next year, its chief executive, Temel Kotil, told ET.

"We will expand into 250 destinations by next year and offer more connectivity to Indians," Kotil said. "We've better connections than Gulf carriers and have 85% loads from India. This is much more than our network-wide average of 77%."

The airline also plans to approach an Indian celebrity to promote Istanbul as a tourist destination and lure Indians to use its hub there to fly to the West. Last week, the carrier announced the appointment of soccer star Leo Messi as its global brand ambassador.

An estimated 90,000 Indians have already visited Turkey this year, compared with 75,000 in 2011. Kotil said the country offers a perfect getaway for the growing middle class in India.

The airline is also working closely with India's tourism ministry and has offered to support destination development in the country. Kotil said that Turkish Airlines, which is a member of the Star Alliance, is willing to support India's national carrier, Air India, whose membership of the global airline grouping was suspended a year-and-a-half ago.

"Air India is in good shape and has a good service quality. We, as Turkish Airlines, support them and are ready to help the AI management in our capacity to join us (Star Alliance). We are also ready to work with them to extend code-shares beyond Istanbul," Kotil said.

[Prodigist]

SEC Ind bets on strong orderbook

Source: FC

Hopeful of more orders due to the defence offset clause, city-based SEC Industries, engaged in design, development, manufacture of aerospace and defence engineering products, has acquired 15 acres in SEZand non-SEZ aerospace clusters at Adibhatla village near Hyderabad. The company, which has earlier signed a deal with French battleship maker DCNS for making assemblies for the Indian submarine project P75 Scorpene, is hopeful of signing a few more contracts soon with other companies, according to MD, D Vidyasagar.

“We are now seeing interest from some French companies for a possible partnership for joint development of mechanical applications for Indian or overseas naval clients. These would be finalised soon,” he said.

The company is working on advanced materials and has created infrastructure that can be used for other programmes as well. The company revenues are Rs 50 crore and is hopeful of doubling it on the back of delivery of present orders as well as new orders, he said.

The work would be distributed between plants in SEZ and non-SEZ clusters. It would take 12 to 18 months for things on this front to take a shape and would need Rs 75 crore investment, out of which the company would look raise Rs 50-60 crore debt from financial institutions, he said.

Special processes are needed to tap the offset clause and these would help the company work with global clients. The company now realises about Rs 25 crore from projects given under offset clause, he said.

In September 2011, DCNS India signed a contract with SEC Industries for manufacture of high technological equipment for the P75 Scorpene submarines. A second contract was signed in May this year for additional items on a transfer of technology basis. The products include ballast vent valves, high-pressure air cylinders, hull hatches and weapon handling systems fit into the submarines.

The Hyderabad-based company had earlier announced the delivery of the first set of cofferdam doors – temporary enclosures to drain out water and take up construction and repair. It is now readying to deliver few critical assemblies to DCNS India by the end of this fiscal. All the components of the Rs 340 crore contract with DCNS are to be delivered in three years.

Mazagon Dock (MDL) is producing SSK Scorpene submarines (P75) for the Indian Navy under transfer of technology (ToT) from DCNS. The first of the Scorpene submarine is to be launched at the end of 2013 and commissioned in 2015.

[sriece19]

SilkAir to increase frequency of Hyderabad-Singapore flight

Hyderabad, Dec 20 (IANS) SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, will increase the frequency of its Hyderabad-Singapore flight to 10 a week from the current seven times.
Jagdish Ram Bhojwani, manager, SilkAir, Andhra Pradesh, told reporters here Thursday that the increase of services would come into effect from Jan 1, 2013.
The airlines increased its frequency three times during last three months, which is an acknowledgment of the growing market on this route, he said.
With this, the number of weekly flights to Singapore from 11 points in India will go up to 97. The passenger load factor on different routes is between 70 to 80 percent.
SilkAir, which started three times a week flights from Visakhapatnam to Singapore in October, is also looking at more tier II and tier III cities in India. Jagdish said the airline was looking at cities like Pune, Jaipur and Lucknow though there no concrete plans as yet.
He said the SilkAir's flights to Singapore offer travelers from India connectivity to 96 cities around the world. The airline is also giving a $40 voucher to those travelling beyond Singapore for spending at the airport.
Singapore is a gateway to South East Asian region and is within seven hour radius from many South East Asian cities.

[Metrohigh]

Sri

Post airlines related info in "Hyderabad (HYD) | Rajiv Gandhi International Airport" thread. This thread only for aero industries and other related infra near HYD airport.

[Gudavalli]

MGAE in Talks with Spicejet for MRO Services for Bombardiers

HYDERABAD: MAS GMRBSE -1.97 % Aerospace Engineering is in talks with SpicejetBSE -1.48 % for offering aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) services for the airlines newly acquired Bombardier Q400 fleet a senior official of the GMR Group said.

MGAE was also in discussions with another Jet AirwaysBSE 0.61 % for MRO services at Rajiv Gandhi international Airport here the official said.

MGAE is a 50:50 Joint Venture partnership between Malaysian Aerospace Engineering Sdn.

Bhd and GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited. The MRO facility already has signed an agreement with Spicejet for its Boeing 737 airplanes and discussions are on how to offer services for its Bombardier Q400 fleet.

"We are in discussions with Spicejet (for their Bombardier fleet). We have already signed a five year contract for MRO facilities for their Boeing 737 fleet. I cannot tell you when the deal will be closed," the official said.

Spicejet recently acquired 15 Q-400 aircraft at a list price of $ 450 million.

The Q-400 aircraft, which will be flying in India for the first time, has a seating capacity of about 80 and would operate in Tier II and III cities.

Besides Q400, Spicejet has 36 aircraft (Boeing serices) in its fleet and are being serviced by MGAe, a Spicejet spokesperson said.

MGAE currently has medium to long term contracts with five customers- Go Air, Spice jet, Bank of China Aviation and another two undisclosed key companies.

The MRO complex which was set up with an investment of Rs 350 crore can perform base maintenance 'C' and 'D' checks for A320s, ATR 42s, ATR 72s and the new generation Boeing 737s to begin with.

It will build its capability gradually to provide maintenance services for Airbus 330s and Boeing 777s.

The facility which currently has the capacity to do an estimated 200 aircraft checks annually so far serviced 25 aircraft.

The facility obtained regulatory certifications from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for domestic airlines, as well as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for international flights, GMR had said earlier.

The facility is expected to help airlines deploy their aircraft back to operations in the fastest possible time, since it is located within the special economic zone near Hyderabad airport, GMR had said in a statement earlier.

[sriece19]

Cathay Pacific introduces Business Class on Hyderabad-Hong Kong flights

Cathay Pacific Airways has introduced its business class cabin and new premium economy class cabin for passengers travelling between Hyderabad and Hong Kong route.

Following the recent launch of flights from this city, Hyderabad will now offer a three-class configuration - new business class, premium economy class and the new long-haul economy class for passengers travelling to Hong Kong from February 1, 2013.

The airline's new business class cabin is the result of a collaboration be-tween its customers and the Cathay Pacific team. The product design allows passengers to control their degree of privacy and openness while enjoying the renowned personal service.

Cathay Pacific recently introduced new award winning in-flight products in Delhi and Chennai and has also extended its presence in India with a new four-times-weekly service between Hong Kong and Hyderabad. Together with sister airline Dragonair, the group now operates 46 weekly flights from six cities in India

[Gudavalli]

AFA Dundigal gets Swiss jet trainer Pilatus PC-7 Mk-II

Hyderabad: The countdown to the much awaited Basic Trainer Aircraft Pilatus, PC-7 Mk-II manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft Company, of Switzerland, came to an end as the Indian Air Force received its first lot which arrived today at the Air Force Academy, Dundigal.

Two Pilatus aircraft, flown in by Swiss pilots, were received at the Air Force Academy by air officer commanding-in-chief, training command, Air Marshal Rajinder Singh and commandant AFA, Air Marshal R.G. Burli.

It is to be mentioned that IAF is to get 75 Pilatus aircraft and officials on earlier occasions revealed that it shall be at the rate of about two aircraft every month.

With the induction of the ‘PC-7 Mk-II’ aircraft, the IAF will be able to meet the long standing need of having a basic trainer aircraft, post grounding of HPT-32 in July 2009. As such, ab-initio training of entire batch of rookie pilots, on Pilatus, can effectively start from July 2013.

The Training Command, at Dundigal, earlier used to train rookie pilots for all streams in two stages, until recently. The first stage completed in one year or so comprised of basic training and was carried out on HPT 32 basic trainers for 70 hours or so. Another 80 hours used to be on Kiran Mk-I.

[Gudavalli]

India Companies Are Climbing the Aerospace Supply Chain

Slowly and steadily, a handful of Indian aerospace companies are getting absorbed into the global supply chain of OEMs. For instance, in the opto-electronics segment, the new Samtel-Thales Avionics joint venture “plans to become the first electro-optic house in the country,” said executive director Puneet Kaura. By 2015, the company intends to supply the infrared search and track system as standard equipment for the Dassault Rafale fighter for the Indian Air Force. Meanwhile, the Thales-Bharat Electronics surface radar joint venture is on track and will be fully operational by March, Eric Lenseigne, Thales’s country head for India, told AIN. “Offsets at a later stage could be a possibility,” he added.

The joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems and Lockheed Martin following the purchase of six C-130 military transports by India “is going well,” according to Abhay Paranjape, Lockheed Martin’s director and national executive for India. With production of wing components, tail and sub structures started, the facility in Hyderabad supplies directly to the Lockheed Martin assembly line in the U.S. The Indian plant will soon become the sole supplier source for the components.

Meanwhile, the Tata-Sikorsky joint venture is ramping up production of cabins for S-92 helicopters from Tata Advanced Systems based in Hyderabad’s Aerospace Special Economic Zone. By the end of March it will increase its capacity from two to three cabins a month, according to a Tata spokesman.