Indian aircraft fleet needs to add 80 wide-body planes to take its total fleet size to 200 by 2025-30, according to GE Aviation’s country head for South Asia and Indonesia, Vikram Rai.
Rai told Fe that by the end of the decade the requirement of wide-body aircraft in India would be 200. Of this, at present, 50 are already operational and another 70 have been ordered by airlines. That means another 80 aircraft needs to be added.
“Wide-body operations is the next big stage for growth of airlines in India and all of them know about it,” Rai said. Rai said that Indian carriers will require about 2,000 narrow body aircraft over the next decade.
He said that GE has invested about $200 million in its Pune based multi-modal facility and is also sourcing components from this facility. Vikram Rai said that the company has developed about 13 suppliers within India for its global supply chain.