India Weekly: Indian civilian aircraft ambitions emerge

Europe has Airbus, the US has Boeing, Brazil has Embraer, and China has COMAC. India, however, remains without a homegrown civilian aircraft manufacturer—even as it boasts one of the world’s largest order books, with around 1,700 planes from Boeing and Airbus. That paradox has raised eyebrows for years—more so now, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushes hard for a renewed “Make in India” drive. Last month, Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu told Parliament that the government will soon set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to develop the country’s first Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) within the next five years. “We want to see growth in manufacturing and one of the prime objectives when we talk about aircraft component manufacturing is to prepare, build and manufacture our own aircraft in the country which is RTA,” he said, adding, “One theme we are having right now is a short-term approach, a medium-term approach and a long-term approach. If you take an example of other countries, how they have done it. It has been a process which has been built up for 40 years and 50 years. Though we don’t want to see it taking that much time, we want to have a strict plan. One important thing is to improve aircraft manufacturing in the country itself. That is one of the short-term plans we have.” Naidu, in his late 30s and India’s youngest aviation minister, who took charge last summer, has shown keen interest in propelling the industry toward manufacturing. [caption id="attachment_90771" align="aligncenter" width="323"] Hansa 3[/caption] This week, he announced that CSIR–National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR–NAL) and private firm Pioneer Clean AMPS have entered into a technology license agreement to manufacture the country’s first locally designed and developed civil aircraft—a two-seater trainer aircraft, the Hansa-3 (NG). The homegrown plane is expected to cost half of $0.72 million—the price of a similar imported aircraft—and is said to be more fuel-efficient. It also features a bubble canopy, glass cockpit, electric flaps, and can carry a payload of up to 200 kg. A site is being scouted in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to establish a manufacturing plant, which will initially produce 36 aircraft a year, with plans to scale up to 72. All eyes are now on the SPV. Naidu and the aviation ministry have already held several rounds of meetings with Boeing, Airbus, ATR, and Embraer, urging them to set up local assembly lines. While the head of Boeing India has said more orders would be needed to justify an assembly line in the country, Airbus officials often point out that they already have a full-fledged assembly line for the C295 military transport aircraft in India, in collaboration with the Tata Group—which also owns Air India and Jaguar Land Rover. In addition, they are establishing an H125 helicopter assembly line, again with Tata. Both manufacturers highlight how they are increasing aerospace sourcing from India—valued at around $1 billion each—but tend to sidestep questions around civilian aircraft production. Still, India’s expanding aerospace footprint is hard to ignore. Dynamatic Technologies, for example, has a contract to manufacture all the doors for the Airbus A220. On Wednesday, Mahindra Aerostructures announced it has been selected to assemble the main fuselage of the Airbus H130 light single-engine helicopter, with the first cabin assembly scheduled for delivery in March 2027. The massive Tata-Airbus assembly lines for the C295 opened a few months back in Gujarat. Now, the push for a regional aircraft echoes China's approach in its long journey toward aviation self-reliance. However, it took COMAC over 15 years to get its aircraft flying, even though its engines, avionics, and landing gear are still sourced from Western firms like General Electric, Rolls-Royce, and Honeywell. Similarly, Indonesia also has regional aircraft ambitions that have not led to scaled success. Similar RTA proposals have been floated and debated across aviation and defence ministries for over a decade—yet none have genuinely taken off. Can Naidu break the cycle? That remains to be seen. Still, he’s already moved swiftly—pushing through a key bill in Parliament within just four months to implement the Cape Town Convention, which protects aircraft lessors. That alone injects fresh hope into India’s regional aviation ambitions.

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