He said the Director General of Civil Aviation had yesterday given civil certification to HAL Ozar airport, Nashik, which means it has been declared as an “alternative” airport to Mumbai. Ahmedabad airport was the case till now.
With this, he noted, flights coming to Mumbai, both domestic and international, can carry much less fuel and more load, saving a lot of money. With Mumbai airport getting congested, HAL was also eyeing the cargo business, he added.
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Addressing a press meet at Aero India 2013 here, Tyagi said, “authorities concerned” had told HAL to take the role of a lead partner in the proposed Rs 7,500-crore national civil aircraft programme to develop a regional transport aircraft. Officials said the goal was to build a 90-seater regional aircraft, with private participation under a joint venture model.
He also announced that HAL would design and develop a 20 kN aero-engine. “It will be a great emerging market because in a few years, the aero-engine market in India is expected to be Rs 2,50,000 crore.”
HAL’s Director (Design & Development) T Suvarna Raju said the Bangalore-headquartered defence PSU has the expertise of manufacturing engines under licence agreements and knows the technology involved. “HAL is venturing into creating a mig-segment engine which will be used either on trainers that we have or regional jets (aircraft) we are looking at,” he said. Raju said the preliminary design of this engine would be reviewed in September this year, and the prototype is planned to be tested in three years.
Tyagi said HAL plans to design, develop and manufacture Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in partnership with research and development and other “teaching” institutions. It’s already in discussions with IIT-Kanpur and Indian Institute of Sciences-Bangalore, among others. HAL wants to become a manufacturing and maintenance hub for UAVs, he said.
HAL has proposed to the Home Ministry that the Navratna company prepare a blueprint vis-a-vis UAV requirements for paramilitary forces and also “requirements for dealing with cross-border terrorism”. The company plans an investment of Rs 500 crore to spearhead its UAV business initiatives, he said. “We have created a special UAV business group”.
HAL is on Thursday a $3-billion company. Tyagi said the company aims to become a $10-billion firm by 2020 encompassing its businesses in military and civil aviation, MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft) and UAV. The company needs to make an investment of Rs 19,000 crore by 2020 to create infrastructure and facilities for undertaking various programmes, Tyagi said. He said HAL was in discussion with the Human Resource Development Ministry to create an aviation university based in Bangalore which will be “full-fledged in every way”.