Boeing CEO lands at North Block

Harry Stonecipher, president and chief executive officer of the American aircraft maker The Boeing Company is in India leading a group of senior team from its headquarters.

Stonecipher today met finance minister P Chidambaram along with senior officials of the finance ministry. However, he did not have an appointment with the civil aviation minister Praful Patel.

The visit of Stonecipher, who became the president and chief executive officer of The Boeing Company in December 2003, assumes importance since Boeing lost the Rs 9,475 crore aircraft order from the state-owned Indian Airlines to its arch rival Airbus.

Besides, the government is also in the process of finalising the over Rs 10, 000 crore aircraft buying plan of Air-India, the other state-owned airline.

The Boeing Company is however tightlipped about the visit of its chief executive and president to India. Apart from the passenger aircraft deal, The Boeing Company is also eyeing some defense contract in India.

The Boeing Company lost the Indian Airlines' deal even after the world's largest aerospace major offered a reduction in aircraft price as a last ditch effort to bag the order "" the largest aircraft order from India till now. In June this year Boeing had offered to reduce its bid price by Rs 700 crore.

Besides, the government had also asked Air India to take a re-look at its fleet acquisition plan considering the changing market conditions. In addition, the plans of Air India to acquire 18 Boeing 737-800 for its low cost carrier Air India Express is awaiting government approval.

Indian Airlines is not the only deal that Boeing lost in India. In the recent times, most of the aircraft buying decisions in India has gone in favor of Airbus, with the latest being the plans of Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Air to acquire 14 Airbus aircraft. Besides, the decision of low cost carrier Air Deccan to acquire larger aircraft had also gone in favor of Airbus.

In the recent past India has seen a flurry of activity in the aviation sector with the country expected to generate a demand for 200 aircraft in the next five years.

Besides, senior executives from global aircraft makers have been visiting India in the recent past to asses the market situation and to get a larger share of the demand here.