Mahindra plans 'Nano' move into light aircraft

Mumbai: India's Mahindra group is seeking to do for the country's aviation manufacturing industry what rival Tata conglomerate is doing for the car market with its Nano people's car, by developing a new line of light civilian passenger aircraft.
Mahindra, which last month acquired two Australian aviation companies - Gippsland Aeronautics and Aerostaff Australia - is planning to begin manufacturing two to 18-seater light aircraft for India that will be cheaper to buy and run than foreign brands and will be adapted for the country's tough conditions.
"Our dream is to be the Embraer of India," Hemant Luthra, president of Mahindra Systech Sector engineering arm, said in an interview. Any move into mass marketing of light civilian aircraft would mark a first for India, whose aviation industry still largely relies on imported aircraft.
Mr Luthra said Mahindra executives got the idea to work on a light aircraft for India after a review of the country's airport facilities. While India has 50-60 airports in urban and metropolitan areas, it has 300-350 landing strips that tend to be nearer remote tourist spots and outlying industrial areas, such as factories, refineries, ports, mines and power plants.
Mahindra plans to invest Rs1.75bn over five years to increase its aerospace arm's output from Gippsland Aviation's sales history of 230 aircraft sold in 30 countries to 475 units across 50 countries.
It will sell Gippsland Aeronautics'eight-seater "Airvan" as well as revive an earlier model, the 18-seater GA-24 turboprop. The company decided to stick to the two to 20-seater propeller aircraft market, which has annual sales of 4,000 units worth a total of $5bn and is growing 15 per cent a year.
11/01/10 Joe Leahy/Financial Times, UK

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2010, New Jan 2010