Have to deliver maximum planes to IndiGo, AI: Airbus

NEW DELHI: For Airbus, IndiGo and Air India are now among the top three airline customers globally with the maximum backlog or aircraft yet to be delivered, according to the aerospace major’s EVP (sales, commercial aircraft) Benoit de Saint-Exupery. It has to deliver 916 and 344 aircraft, majority of which are narrow body, to IndiGo and AI, respectively, said an official. Malaysia-based AirAsia Group, which once used to run a JV airline in India with the Tatas, is at the second spot at 393 planes.In Delhi for the IATA AGM, Benoit had some good news for airlines that are getting increasingly frustrated with delivery delays (including from Boeing too). “We are seeing the first signs of stability in supply chain. We (are) now back to the pre-Covid level of producing 60 A320 family of single aisle planes every month and hope to increase this number to 75 by 2027. We have the orders and are ramping up production and every commercial (Airbus) aircraft that’s flying going forward will be made partly made in India,” Benoit said.Asked if the order book for 1,750 planes from IndiGo and AI makes a case for India to get a final assembly line (FAL), Benoit said: “We will have final assembly lines on the other products (one for H125 helicopters for its civil range and other for C295 military aircraft). On commercial aircraft side, we are looking at expanding our footprint with industry here in India. Sourcing from India has much value than an FAL for commercial aircraft and we are constantly increasing the same from here. Airbus sourcing from India was $500 millon in 2020. We crossed the $1-billion mark in 2023 and last year we were at $1.4 billion. We will reach $ 2 billion before the end of the decade.”Remi Maillard, president of Airbus India and MD of south Asia region, said: “India is not only a market for us. It has become a strategic resource and industrial base for Airbus.”About delays in aircraft deliveries due to supply chain issues, Benoit said: “Now we are seeing the first signs of stability in the supply chain. But you, you never quite rest because, as we all know, the situation can change quite quickly nowadays.”