Date:29/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/29/stories/2008052961441200.htm

National

India one of our prime partner: Airbus

Sandeep Dikshit

BERLIN: Chief Executive Officer and president of Airbus Industrie Tom Enders has said his company is “definitely interested” in exploring production possibilities in India. “It [manufacturing] is something we would consider. The question is should we consider manufacturing ourselves or should we look for partners who would do that,” Mr. Enders told The Hindu after a news conference during which he said that going global without being present in India was impossible.

The Airbus CEO pointed out that at present his company had a manufacturing agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for half of all doors for the A-320 aircraft. “We are producing 300 of these aircraft every year. So that is a lot of production going on at HAL,” he said.

Airbus is part of the EADS group, which is in the race for two large military aviation contracts. If successful, EADS would have to set up manufacturing facilities in the country, pointed out other company sources. One of its companies, Eurocopter, is bidding for over 300 military helicopters and EADS for 126 fighter aircraft.

During the course of the news conference attended by journalists from all parts of the world, Mr. Enders singled out India.

“You can’t be global without being in India — with its large number of highly skilled, motivated and knowledgeable people. We are already capitalising on the incredible energy and entrepreneurial spirit in the country. We have initiated research and technical cooperation with some of the most respected Indian universities and laboratories. Airbus has started small but thinks big,” he said.

Last year Airbus opened its first Indian Airbus Engineering Centre in Bangalore. At this hi-tech centre, Indian engineers develop advanced modelling and simulation, covering crucial factors in design and production of high performance aircraft such as A380. “We started with 25 engineers and will now quickly grow to 300 Indian employees. Together with suppliers, the number is over 1,000. And I believe there is more to come,” said the Airbus CEO.

“Indian engineers at our centre are an empowered lot. They are contributing to increasing the efficiency of our design and production processes. As a result, in an industry like software and place like Bangalore, we have had zero attrition rate since we opened last year,” CEO of the Design Centre Eugen Welte told The HIndu.

Airbus’ vote of confidence in India comes at a time when the country’s aviation industry is headed for a slowdown.