Brazil's Embraer proposes regional jets for India

Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil: A growing appetite among Indian carriers to serve regional routes makes the country a potentially big market for 250 regional jets with a capacity of up to 120 seats, Brazil's aircraft maker Embraer.
In India, around 250 low-to-medium-density routes remain unused, as they are not profitable to run with narrow-bodied aircraft. Plus, in the non-metros sector, 133 routes have less than one frequency a day, said Brazil-based Embraer.
At present, out of some 400 aircraft for scheduled commercial operations in India, 261 are narrow-bodied planes and only 20 are regional jets.
A regional jet is generally run on a range of short-to-medium-haul routes with a seating capacity for 100 passengers. Compared with these, narrow-bodied planes, such as the Boeing-737 and Airbus A-320 family, have around 160 seats.
As the economy bounces back and major Indian airlines review their fleet plans, Embraer says it is in discussion with all players as they will be interested in tapping the low-to-medium-density routes where regional jets have a niche.
04/07/10 Neelam Mathews/South Asia Mail

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Categories: Foreign Jul 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Jul 2010