New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) The government is making efforts to boost manufacturing activities in the country’s fast-growing aerospace sector and Indian companies are collaborating with foreign firms for setting up facilities, Union Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Monday.
Replying to a supplementary query during the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the civil aviation minister highlighted joint ventures with Embraer and Sukhoi.
“Regarding the investment in manufacturing in aviation, we have taken it up very, very seriously. And for the first time, I am very happy to tell the House also that Embraer, which is a Brazilian aircraft manufacturing company, has come into a joint venture with the Indian manufacturing company.
“And we are going to very soon start a final assembly line in the country, which is going to improve the manufacturing ecosystem,” Naidu said.
The minister pointed out that the aviation sector was not an easy sector to start the manufacturing process.
“Aircraft manufacturing is very complex, very precise engineering takes place. And countries have had this project of building their own aircraft for many decades, and some have not been successful also. That is why, when you look at the international level, only a handful of countries are able to manufacture the aircraft in today’s age,” Naidu said.
Under the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister, he said the government strongly believes that everything is possible in this new India.
“We have collaborated with international companies. One, I have mentioned Embraer. Also, the Russian Sukhoi people have also entered into an MoU with HAL to manufacture their SJ 100 super jet, which is also a 100 seater (aircraft) and very, very important for our regional connectivity also,” Naidu said.
Meanwhile, Embraer has partnered with Adani Defence & Aerospace and Brazil to set up a final assembly line in India for the E175 regional jets. At present, there are aircraft component manufacturing activities happening in the country. Naidu stated that more manufacturing facilities are being set up, especially for the aviation and aerospace ecosystem.
“And in the coming days, as we improve the aircraft components and also the final assembly line, we are going to see more investment come in this manufacturing sector,” the minister said.
On a question related to improve connectivity to foreign countries from Chandigarh international airport, Naidu said the Centre will look into this issue.
He, however, asserted that the government is facilitating and encouraging Indian airlines to take international traffic in their own aircraft, rather than adding more point of call which would benefit foreign carriers.
“Point of call issue is not only for one specific airport. There are multiple airports. Multiple states have been requesting for point of call for better international connectivity,” Naidu said.
Chandigarh has connectivity to Abu Dhabi and Dubai also right now, he added. Generally, point of call refers to the city where an airline can operate flights.
Naidu said the government wants major hubs in India like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to grow.
“We have all these metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore. But what happens when you give more points of call, the foreign carriers come, and all the international passengers are taken to their country. They offer the transit airport, and then from there they are trying to send them to other destinations,” he said.
The government intends to encourage Indian carriers to take more and more people to foreign destinations.
“So while keeping this intact, we have given many points of call across the country. And definitely, if there is a very specific requirement, like a member has mentioned about the Chandigarh airport and the traffic that it’s generating over there, definitely the government will look into it,” Naidu said. PTI MJH RAM MJH DR DR
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