NAL scouts for pvt partners for aircraft project

National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), the Bangalore-based nodal centre for the design of the Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA), is set to issue expressions of interest (EoIs) to invite potential partners for the project from the private sector, both from India and abroad, according to NAL director AR Upadhya, director (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research).

“The Centre has given us a directive to design a framework to form a joint venture (JV) for carrying out the RTA project through public-private partnership. We have already drafted the EoI, which will be issued in a month’s time. The JV will be for design, development and manufacture of the RTAs. It (JV) could be two separate entities too. Roping in cost-sharing partners within a segment or a particular activity ... that has to be looked at,” Upadhya said.

Speaking to Business Standard on the sidelines of the Aviation Conclave 2010, which concluded here on Saturday, he said the government had given NAL the mandate to do a one-year feasibility study on the configuration definition and systems definition for the national aircraft for regional connectivity.

“Based on the various inputs that we had already received from the operators and also from our own assessment of the market, we have commissioned a separate study both within the country and also outside, report on which is expected in a month. All these point towards a 90-seater transport aircraft ... that is what the operators said they would prefer,” Upadhya said.

Stating that NAL would submit the feasibility report to the government by April 2011, he said they were setting up a design bureau at NAL with 100 people, including some experienced ones from the Aeronautical Development Agency, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

“When it comes to the engine for the RTA, we will present both sides of the coin ... we are looking at both optimised turboprop (turbo propeller) and optimised turbofan,” Upadhya said, adding the project required an investment of Rs 5,000 crore towards design and development costs and prototypes, which needed to be reviewed. “Our aim is to have 25 per cent reduction in operational costs through RTAs.”

Identifies 120 airfields for RTA connectivity Upadhya said around 120 airfields, each with 3,000-5,000-sft runway, had been identified across the country for facilitating landing of these smaller aircraft. About 50 per cent the country's population is living closer to these smaller airfields. So, there is a big requirement for establishment of indigenous aircraft manufacturing industry, he said.

“Of the 450 airfields that the country has at present, only 70 are operational. There is a potential to convert the remaining airfields into airports,” Upadhya said, adding India requires 1,300 aircraft by 2015, of which 240 are expected to be RTAs to connect smaller towns and cities.