| The Boeing Company will invest $280 million in India for setting up an airplane maintenance facility and a pilot training centre.
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| The US-based aircraft maker also plans to double its long-term forecast for sales in the country to 856 planes worth $72 billion by 2026.
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| Last year, the company had estimated that India would purchase 470 airplanes worth $35 billion by 2025. Boeing’s rival Airbus Industries last year predicted that Indian carriers would buy 800-1,000 planes through 2025.
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| Boeing has confirmed orders valued at around $19 billion for 106 aircraft of various configuration, including smaller and large wide-bodied planes, to be executed by 2011.
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| According to Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president of sales for south and southeast, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, “The company raised its previous estimate because of the burgeoning demand for air travel in India, driven by the entry of several low-cost carriers, robust expansion of the economy and growth in the country’s air-freight market.”
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| “Economic growth, liberalisation and airlines’ operational efficiencies are the three fundamental drivers behind the increase in air travel in India,” Keskar said.
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| He added that a liberalised aviation policy resulting in more bilateral agreements with countries such as the US and the UK, and rising disposable income of the country’s middle class will continue to drive growth in air travel in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
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| Keskar also said the demand for air freighters would also increase to support robust growth of exports.
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| In its India 2006 Market Outlook, Boeing said it expected the Indian market to generate demand for 676 single-aisle and 120 twin-aisle airplanes. Keskar didn’t give any estimate of the company’s likely share in the total market through 2026.
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| Last year, Boeing received orders worth $15 billion from Indian carriers, including an order for 68 airplanes worth $11.4 billion from the state-run Air-India, the largest order in the country’s civil aviation history. |
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