Assorted articles and Information

After taking over Corus and Jaguar, the Tata group is in talks for a partnership with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. According to sources talks were on with Embraer for starting a joint venture for production of aircraft. The world’s third-largest plane manufacturer is unable to cope with orders it is getting from various countries and private players.

Embraer (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronutica) is the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial jets of up to 120 seats, and one of Brazil’s leading exporters. Founded in 1969, the company designs, develops and sells aircraft for commercial aviation, executive aviation, and defence and government segments. It also provides after-sales services to customers worldwide. On March 31, 2008, it had 23,878 employees and an order-book of $20.3 billion. It is headquartered in Sao Paulo, it has offices, industrial operations and customer service facilities in Brazil, the US, France, Portugal, China and Singapore.

Tata group chairman Ratan Tata says, “This joint venture between the Tata group and Boeing is an important part of our strategy to build capabilities in defence and aerospace”. In the same month, Singapore-based BJets, Asia’s leading private jet company catering to corporations and rich individuals, had announced a tie-up with Tata group firm Indian Hotels as a “significant investor”. BJet’s flight operations will begin in May 2008 and will be headquartered in Mumbai.

Earlier in February, the world’s leading aircraft maker Boeing and Tata Industries had agreed on a plan to form a joint venture company that will initially include more than $500 million of defence-related aerospace component work in India for export to Boeing. The company is scheduled to be set up by June 2008.

Boeing faced a backlash by airlines on 10th April, after further delaying delivery of its new 787 Dreamliner, with two carriers demanding compensation from the US plane-maker and others set to follow suit. Australia’s Qantas and Air New Zealand both said they wanted compensation from Boeing for pushing back the long-awaited jet’s delivery schedule for the third time, while Japan Airlines (JAL) said the situation was “deplorable.”

Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) were also considering compensation demands, an embarrassment for Boeing as ANA is the 787’s official launch customer, a role supposed to give it the cachet of being the first carrier to operate the plane. More of the 50-plus carriers awaiting Dreamliner deliveries may also be tempted to seek recompense from Boeing as they face the prospect of delaying expansion plans and maintaining ageing fleets.

The 787 is a revolutionary aircraft that uses lightweight moulded plastic composites instead of aluminium to reduce weight, increase range and cut fuel consumption. But its ground-breaking design has created development headaches, with Boeing blaming “unanticipated rework” and problems with suppliers for the latest delay.

ANA, Japan’s second largest airline, was the first to order the Dreamliner in April 2004 but signalled its patience was wearing thin and said it was “extremely disappointed” with Boeing. “They’ve been delaying the delivery again and aga-in,” ANA spokeswoman Kyoko Yaname said, revealing the airline “will demand that Boeing give us a reliable delivery schedule.”

The aviation boom in India could soon move to the next level of aircraft production. With China managing to attract both Boeing and Airbus to set up manufacturing facilities there, India is now pulling all stops to make a beginning with the European major. According to highly placed sources, the government is of the view that offset (benefit from a deal) arising out of purchases from European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) can be used for putting up assembly units for medium size civil transport aircraft. A beginning could be made with up to 70-seater ATRs.

The aircraft assembly venture with EADS in India is being planned as an offset for these and future purchase orders that may be placed with the European major. EADS is keen that the government does a re-look at its decision to cancel the $600-million deal to buy 197 helicopters for Army’s aviation wing from its chopper division, Eurocopter. This deal was cancelled when government found certain discrepancies in field trial process. With India keen on an aircraft manufacturing tieup with EADS, a ”mutually beneficial” deal could be worked out. The erstwhile Indian Airlines had placed an order for 43 aircraft of Airbus (a division of EADS) worth $2 billion. As offset, Airbus was to invest Rs 200 crore for an MRO facility here. In addition, EADS also proposed an investment of Euro 2 billion over 15 years.

Aircraft manufacturing was with in the Defence Ministry’s domain before 1987 when the sector was opened to the private sector. But no real progress has so far been made on developing an indigenous passenger aircraft. The Prime Minister’s Office is particularly keen that India should not get left behind in passenger aircraft manufacturing. The Government wants to make a start with European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company on small turboprops as the concept of regional airlines has been introduced and such players would use mostly ATRs to provide connectivity within different regions.

India’s leading IT firm Infosys Technologies has bagged the performance excellence award from global aerospace major Boeing for 2007. Infosys is among 50 firms to receive the gold level performance award from Boeing’s 10,000 suppliers worldwide. Franco Gonsalves, Infosys global head for automotive and aerospace sectors said, “The Boeing award reflects our insight and approach to global clients across verticals. The recognition testifies the values with which we deliver integrated services to clients in manufacturing industries”.

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is negotiating with the country’s two major carriers Air India and Jet Airways for 60 wide-bodied aircraft. The combined deals are expected to be valued at $15 billion. Most of these aircraft are being bought for use on international routes.

Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales), Boeing Commercial Airplanes said that Airlines in India like Jet Airways and Air India have firm orders with Boeing for delivery till the year 2011. Now they are planning beyond that in view of expected market growth. Air India is studying how many aircraft it requires and Jet Airways is also planning more wide-bodied aircraft to service the expansion of its international network.

S Venkat, executive director (finance), Air India, said that the airline will finalise the orders it is going to place with aircraft manufacturers in the next three months. A high-level committee set up to examine the total number of aircraft required beyond 2011 will submit a growth projection and a Request for Proposal has already been made. Saroj Datta, Jet Airways Executive Director said that the final decision on the new aircraft will be made according to the market situation.

The Seattle-headquartered Boeing put aircraft requirement at 911 worth $86 billion for the next 20 years, in its growth forecast for the domestic aviation sector. Air India has already contracted orders for 43 wide-bodied aircraft from Boeing which will be completed by 2011 and will be used to replace the older aircraft with the carrier. It has also ordered 27 787 “Dreamliners“. The airline’s total orderbook with Boeing, including narrow-bodied aircraft, is 68 aircraft valued at $11 billion. Boeing also has an order to deliver 43 wide-bodied aircraft to Jet Airways till 2012, of which 12 will be Dreamliners. Boeing also supplies to SpiceJet but these are narrow-bodied aircraft.