In an interview with BW Businessworld, Anand Stanley, President & MD, Airbus (India & South Asia) talks about developing technology and more

On the Indian market
For Airbus, India is not just a large, fast-growing market for aerospace products and services. It is a base, a strategic resource hub for emerging technologies, world-class talent and R&D that will power not just aerospace and future aerial mobility but also Industry 4.0 in the years to come. We are proud to say that Airbus is India’s aircraft of choice, accounting for 70 per cent of new order share, which means we will deliver to Indian carriers, on average, one aircraft a week for the next ten years.

On sharing and developing technology 
Our partnership with India goes much deeper. We support 6,500 jobs which include 1,500 engineers in India and are constantly increasing India’s contribution to our global products through high quality procurement from our Indian suppliers, which is worth more than $550 a year. In other words, every commercial Airbus aircraft produced today is partly ‘Made in India’. We have recently opened our pilot and maintenance training centre near Delhi. It will support the country’s need for new pilots to operate existing and next generation Airbus aircraft. The centre will accelerate the pace of training to help match the A320 deliveries to India. Airbus’ specialised training instructors will deliver training at the centre. The centre will have the capacity to train more than 8,000 pilots and 2,000 maintenance engineers over the next ten years. The jewel in the crown is our engineering centre in Bengaluru where some of the most gifted engineers in the country are contributing to our global product portfolio. Today, more than 80 per cent of our workforce in India is employed in engineering roles. In 2018, Airbus India Engineering Centre celebrated its tenth anniversary.

We also have a close collaboration with ISRO/Antrix. We have jointly designed, developed, and built communication satellites in India for European operators. We are working to expand our cooperation with India on the space side. All this to say that India is at the heart of Airbus!
Excellence of products and reliability has always been an Airbus hallmark. Across the globe we have successfully established Transfer of Technology (ToT) partnerships while supporting development of aerospace and allied industries in various countries such as Brazil, Australia, Mexico and Indonesia.

On Airbus’ offering for Indian defence
India already takes a centre-stage role in our international activities and we want to further increase its contribution to our products. We are fully geared to support the Indian government’s efforts to develop and strengthen the country’s aerospace, engineering and production capabilities and take our partnership with the nation to new heights. In defence, our proposition is to develop a focused industrial ecosystem in the country with our partners at the heart of it. We have offered our C295W military transport aircraft for assembly in India in partnership with Tata. We have also partnered with Mahindra Defence to manufacture military helicopters locally should we get an opportunity to support the military’s requirement of Naval Utility Helicopters (NUH) and Naval Multi-Role Helicopters (NMRH). The execution of these projects will help create thousands of jobs and a robust local supplier base with capabilities to support indigenous production. The Indian industry and the economy will gain.