Airbus' annual sourcing from India to touch $2 bn before 2030: CEO Faury

Aircraft maker Airbus' annual sourcing of components and services from India will be ramped up significantly to touch $2 billion before 2030, its CEO Guillaume Faury has said as he emphasised that the country should play on its strengths rather than replicate what others have done in the past.

For Airbus, currently the sourcing of components and services annually is to the tune of $1.4 billion from India, which is also one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets.

Describing India as one of the most important markets for Airbus in terms of growth, Faury said the challenge for the aircraft maker is to support the speed of the growth of the aviation industry in India.

The Airbus order book has more than 1,300 aircraft to be delivered to Indian carriers and IndiGo alone has more than 900 planes on order, including wide body A350s.

Among them, there are firm orders for 50 A350s from Air India and 30 from IndiGo.

Currently, there are around 700 Airbus planes in operation in India, which is also one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets.

While noting that India is integrating itself with the global aerospace industry, he said the company is ramping up sourcing from India and the sourcing is across the board, including parts, sub-system manufacturing, airframe and highly-loaded components.

"We are growing the supply base, we are procuring $1.2 to 1.3 billion (worth of components and services) from India today and we will be at around $2 billion before 2030," the Airbus CEO said during an interaction with Indian journalists on the sidelines of the Airbus Summit 2025 in Toulouse on Tuesday.

Airbus has a significant presence in India, with over 3,600 employees across its various sites and supports more than 15,000 jobs through its supply chain, as per its website.

"I see a lot of competitiveness and growth of business is on highly sophisticated systems which can be both re-engineered and optimised by engineering in India and manufactured in India. That is what we are doing with Dynamatic, Tatas and Mahindra," he said.

Last year, Airbus awarded the contract to manufacture and assemble its A220 Family aircraft doors to Bengaluru-based Dynamatic Technologies.

Among other ventures in India, Airbus has a Final Assembly Line (FAL) for C295 military transport aircraft in a joint venture with Tatas and a FAL for H125 helicopter will also be set up in the country.

In response to a query about whether Airbus will set up a FAL for civilian aircraft in India, Faury said the question of having such a facility in the country may be for the next generation of aeroplanes.

"For the current generation of aeroplanes, I don't think it makes sense for Airbus, I don't think it makes sense for India as well.

"India should play on its strengths and not try to replicate what others have been doing in the past. India is really a fantastic asset in engineering, IT, systems and software, I think that is where India has a win-win from both sides," the Airbus CEO said.

There is a very significant growth in India and it is quite amazing to see the number of new airports coming up, the Airbus chief said and added that it is the place on earth where the scale of growth is the fastest.

"Our challenge at Airbus is to support the speed of growth of the aviation industry in India... the growth trajectory of India is very significantly ahead of that of the world. The challenges are with respect to expertise, HR, hiring, training... (and maintaining) the growth in the best possible conditions," he said.

On the supply chain constraints that are also resulting in longer wait for aircraft deliveries while demand is high, Faury said the supply chain situation is getting better.