To issue expressions of interest in a month.
The Bangalore-based National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), the nodal centre for the design of the Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA), would invite potential partners from the private sector, both from India and abroad, said A R Upadhya, director (council of scientific and industrial research), NAL.
“The Centre has given us a directive to design a framework to form a joint venture (JV) for carrying out the RTA project through a public-private partnership mode. We have already drafted an EoI (expressions of interest), which will be issued in a month’s time. The JV will be for design, development and manufacturing of the RTAs. It (JV) could be two separate entities, too. Roping in cost-sharing partners within a segment or a particular activity ... that has to be looked at,” Upadhya said.
An RTA is meant to boost connectivity between smaller towns and cities. It is said to be more suitable for a place like India, where within a radius of 300-400 km of a big city, you have another one.
Speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of the Aviation Conclave 2010, which concluded here on Saturday, he said the government had given NAL the mandate to do a one-year feasibility study on the configuration definition and systems definition for RTA.
“Based on the various inputs we had already received from operators and also on our own assessment of the market, we have commissioned a separate study, both within the country and also outside, report on which is expected in a month’s time. All these point towards a 90-seater transport aircraft ... that is what the operators said they would prefer,” Upadhya said.
Stating that NAL will submit the feasibility report to the government by April 2011, he said they were setting up a design bureau at NAL with 100 people, including some experienced ones from the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
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“When it comes to the engine for the RTA, we will present both sides of the coin ... we are looking at both optimised turboprop (turbo propeller) and optimised turbofan,” Upadhya said, adding the project required an allocation of Rs 5,000 crore towards design and development costs and prototypes, which needed to be reviewed. “Our aim is to have 25 per cent reduction in operational costs through RTAs.”
Identifies 120 airfields for RTA connectivity
Upadhya said around 120 airfields, each with 3,000-5,000-sq ft runway, had been identified across the country for facilitating landing of these smaller aircraft. About 50 per cent the country’s population is living close to the smaller airfields. Hence, there was a major requirement for the establishment of indigenous aircraft manufacturing industry, he said.
“Of the 450 airfields the country has, only 70 are operational. There is a potential to convert the remaining airfields into airports,” Upadhya said, adding India requires 1,300 aircraft by 2015, of which 240 are expected to be RTAs.