The Centre would soon chart out a strategy for the domestic manufacturing of aircraft along with promoting aircraft financing from within the country, civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu said on Tuesday.
Prabhu said the government is also keen on promoting aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work domestically. “We will soon roll out a road map for manufacturing of aircraft in India,” Prabhu told reporters at the Global Aviation Summit 2019.
“We are already working on financing of aircraft and how that should happen from India. We are losing lot of resources to outsiders,” he added.
The domestic aviation market is growing at around 17-18% year-on-year for the last four years. The local carriers, which currently have around 650 aircraft in their fleet, have an order book of 1,000 aircraft to be delivered in the next 6-7 years. The Union minister unveiled an air cargo policy with an aim to become a logistics hub in the world by 2030.
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“A policy to provide thrust to air cargo has been drafted for the first time and will fuel the growth of the aviation sector and boost the economy,” he said.