Bombardier Aerospace is opening a regional support office in Mumbai from April to cater to the needs of its business aircraft costumers in the country. This will be the company’s fifth new support office for the business jet customers in the past three years worldwide. The other four are in Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai and Munich.
"To assure proper and on time after-sale service to our customers, we are starting a regional support office in Mumbai from April. India is a growing market and has a demand for business jets," said Nilesh Pattanayak, managing director (South Asia), Bombardier Business Aircraft.
These offices will provide a comprehensive support package, encompassing aircraft technical expertise, flight operations support and customer account management functions and quicker service, to customers in their language and time zone.
In addition, the company's business aircraft division also tied up with Air Works to provide maintenance facility to business jets. The company provides fleet management services in the US through its arm called Flexjet.
Montreal-based Bombardier, the world's largest business airplane manufacturer, also sees the market picking up worldwide. The company delivered 235 business jets in 2008, which fell to 176 in 2009. "We are seeing an improved demand this year, as we have already delivered a few jets which indicates towards better things."
The company's ten-year forecast shows that the world will need 10,500 business jets and 250 will be delivered in India. The company also feels that India is a huge country and the demand may breach this number. "We have launched 25 new models since 1999, which has helped us create demand for our products and wither the slowdown," said Pattanayak.
