Airbus appoints Dwarakanath as India CEO, Champion as chairman

Company's new India organisation will have customer facing centres in Delhi and Mumbai. It also has plans to set up a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul

Aircarft maker Airbus today said it has appointed Srinivasan Dwarakanath as Airbus India CEO and Charles Champion, who is EVP Airbus Engineering and member of the company's Executive Committee, as chairman.

Airbus said it is bringing all its Indian activities under one roof through the creation of a fully owned subsidiary called Airbus India to manage the company's significant footprint spread across several sites in the country, the French company said in a release.

Airbus also has plans to set up a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) capability which will be established at a later date, it said.

"Building on our significant engineering presence in India, the new company structure will add a strong customer facing element making us more agile, bringing us closer to stakeholders, suppliers, and also to new talent.

"The Airbus India organisation will foster innovation, respond quickly to growth and to seek out new cooperation opportunities in India," Dwarakanath said.

The new Airbus India organisation will have customer facing centres in Delhi and Mumbai.

Building on the success of the Airbus Engineering Centre India (AECI) in Bangalore, Airbus India will also include strategy, customer services and procurement teams under one organisation.

Airbus EVP Strategy and Marketing, Kiran Rao, said Airbus has been extending its industrial cooperation partnerships with India since the early 1970s, and today Indian engineering and manufacturing companies nationwide representing more than 5,000 people, contribute to all Airbus aircraft programmes.

Dwarakanath was responsible for setting up Airbus' industrial footprint in the region, including the Airbus Engineering Centre India (AECI) and Airbus Training India (ATI) both located in Bangalore.

As of today, there are some 30 Indian suppliers working on Airbus programmes and manufacturing parts for every aircraft model, Airbus said.

Currently Indian carriers operate a fleet of over 170 Airbus aircraft.

Airbus' current market share of sales in India represents over 60% of the country's total aircraft backlog. In addition, since 2005, Airbus has enjoyed over 60% market share of all new orders, it added.