Boeing sees India buying $35 bn aircraft in 20 yrs

American aerospace conglomerate Boeing was revising upward its estimate of the potential for growth of India's commercial civil aviation in the next 20 years, an executive of the company said here today.

Boeing is "talking to all carriers in India," to sell its 777 long haul aircraft, and perhaps before this decade is out, the 7E7, an all composite aircraft that was more fuel-efficient and comfortable, the executive said. That the country had seen seat availability grow from 50,000 three years ago to 5,00,000 this year, was only the beginning:

As favourable regulations helped private players add more flights and destinations, including the long distance ones, "no other market will see the kind of growth that will come here," said Dinesh A Keskar, a senior vice-president and president of Boeing Aircraft Trading business.

"Airliners have a lot of money to make in this market," he added, giving one of three keynote talks at a seminar on aerospace technologies.

Some time back, "We had estimated that in the coming years, India would need 317 aircraft worth some $25 billion." The growth would be such that Indian commercial airliners would be able to absorb even more aircraft, worth an additional $10 billion, Keskar said.

Boeing, which hoped to sell as many of those aircraft as it could, also saw more opportunities for co-development of aircraft parts and software.

"While we will continue to work with companies such as HAL, Infosys and Wipro Technologies, the potential for new partnerships with organisations such as the National Aerospace Laboratories in Bangalore are great," he said.

As airliners sought to become more cost-efficient, aircraft makers were looking to make more common platforms than ever - from cockpits, to avionics to entire aircraft systems.

Boeing wanted to sell its 777 200 LR (long range), which could fly non stop for 15 hours to 18 hours from Bangalore to New York for instance, he said. Another aircraft was the 300 ER (extended range) that could take up to 400 passengers.

The 7E7, when it becomes commercially available in 2008, will be 20 per cent more fuel efficient and allow cabin comforts such as a feel of lower altitude, more humidity, better head room, better lighting, wireless television sets, broadband internet connections and holographic projections of the night sky on the ceiling for "mood lighting during long distance flights."

The fuel efficiency is being improved on three fronts, the engine, supplied by General Electric and Rolls Royce, aerodynamics and systems. "A 7 per cent to 8 per cent improvement in each of these areas should lead to a 20 per cent overall fuel efficiency" Keskar said.

The all composite body allowed more humid air to be circulated inside the cabin, without the worry of corrosion that accompanies today's aluminium bodied aircraft. This can help keep passengers less dehydrated.

This could help keep passengers less dehydrated. Further, the cabin pressure and air will be such that passengers will feel as though they are flying at an altitude of 6,000 ft while "today's aircraft cabins feel like you are breathing on top of an 8,000 ft high mountain."

Boeing was betting on a smaller aircraft such as the 7E7 doing a point to point flight, as against rival Airbus Industrie's hub and spokes flights based on its A 380 aircraft where passengers would have to change flights to get to their final destinations, he said.