The commercial aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc has said that its 100-160 seater CSeries expected to take off soon in the Indian skies. This comes at a time when the airline companies are looking at expanding more to tier II and tier III cities. It is also working with the government on ways to bring up financial institutions to become major lessors for airlines, said a senior official from the company.
"The CSeries can offer latest technology with lower cost of operation especially as the aviation industry is developing to tier II and tier III cities," said Mike Arcamone, president, Commercial Aircraft, Bombardier Inc.
It may be noted that according to reports, the company has pushed back the first flight of the CSeries three times and recently said that it is due to fly in the coming weeks.
The company has not revealed any timeline to launch the new product in India, though saying that it would be launched soon, if the customer demands it.
It has already started discussion with airline firms in India on the advantages of CSeries aircrafts in Indian context,said Arcamone, who was here in Chennai. The company claims that CSeries has 12 per cent cost advantage compared to the new generation aircrafts and compared to old generation aircrafts, the cost advantage is 20 per cent.
So far Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, which opened its regional sales office in Mumbai almost three years back, has handed over 15 aircrafts to SpiceJet and three CRJ 700 carriers to Air India.
"Right now SpiceJet is a great advocate for our aircraft," he added. The airline firm has an option to buy 15 more aircrafts from Bombardier.
Speaking on the market share of the company in the Indian aviation industry, Torbjorn Karlsson, vice president, sales, Asia Pacific of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said, "We dont calculate the market share per country. We have the 15 aircraft with SpiceJet, and three CRJ 700 with Air India. If you look at what same type of product with our competition, we have a market of 45-50 per cent."
The company, which see a consolidation in the aviation sector in United States and a rather mature market in Europe, is focusing on three countries inclduing India for its future business.
"India is very important for our future growth because of the opportunities that are present, India is on the move, is one of the countries that requires a lot of my focus. Out side North America, South America and Europe, there is three areas I am really focusing - India, Russia and China," said Arcamone. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would open up the Indian aviation market to more aviation companies.
However, one of the developments the company expects to happen in India is the financial support, which could be in a way of banks acting as lessors. Though there are some small scale lessors in India, the Banks in the country are yet to play a major role in the sector. "I would like to see one of my top 15 lessors to be from India," he said.
