India is not turning into an Airbus market...we remain bullish: Dinesh Keskar

Interview with Senior Vice-President, Sales, Asia-Pacific, Boeing

It is advantage Airbus, which has got yet another mega order in India, for 250 planes. In response, Dinesh Keskar, arch-rival Boeing’s senior vice-president (sales)  for the Asia-Pacific region, says there is enough demand in the Indian market and the company remains bullish about its growth in India. Edited excerpts of a talk with Aneesh Phadnis.

Do you view the order for 250 A320neo Airbus aircraft from IndiGo as a setback for Boeing?  What does the order tell you about the airline and India’s aviation market?

This order is in line with our market forecast. In March, we said India would require 1,600 planes over the next 20 years, 235 wide body and 1,330 narrow body ones. If you exclude those ordered by IndiGo, there would be still a demand for 1,080 narrow body planes. India is a big market and we remain bullish.  The Airbus order is marvellous  (for Airbus) and I do not deny it. I am not surprised IndiGo opted for additional A320neo, as they already have infrastructure and pilots for the aircraft type. I am sure when Jet Airways buys planes, it will choose Boeing 737s.

What sense do you get from your customers about their expansion plans? We see SpiceJet and Jet Airways scaling down capacity or deferring inductions. Even Vistara and AirAsia India (the new entrants) will be operating Airbus planes.

SpiceJet had ordered 42 Boeing 737Max planes, which will be delivered from 2019. Jet has 10 Boeing 787-9s on order, which it will receive from 2017.  Both are taking deliveries  this year.  We discuss with our customers about their expansion plans but we  cannot comment on that. Vistara has not opted for Boeing 737s because there was no room for immediate deliveries.  There is a waiting period for leases, too; that shows the popularity of our aircraft.

With the IndiGo order, is India is turning into an Airbus market?

Not at all. On the wide body side, we have delivered 17 Boeing 787s to Air India. Airbus has not sold a single A350 in India. Air India will induct Boeing 787s, as per its order. Our customers will continue to grow and we are perfectly fine with it. We are also helping Air India Express secure Boeing 737s on lease.

I’m not worried about market share. Some airlines order with a five-year horizon and some with 10. This depends on each airline and whether they place a single large order or split the requirement. On Sunday, Boeing got an order for 50 Boeing 737Max  planes from Garuda Indonesia. Does it mean that airline will restrict to 50 new planes and not buy any in future?

Air India’s (Boeing) Dreamliners continue to be a cause of concern, with frequent reports of snags and groundings. How is the issue being addressed?

The Boeing 787 has been positive for Air India and many of the routes which were (earlier) not profitable for it have shown better earnings By using these). AI is looking to improve the fleet utilisation   using a single aircraft on domestic and short-haul international routes.  However, we are still  not happy with the dispatch reliability achieved by the aircraft for the airline. Each month, AI is operating over 1,000 flights with Boeing 787s and it is possible there are issues with one or two aircraft.  We are working with AI to address these.