Airlines should consider deploying wide-body aircraft on dense domestic routes: GE Aerospace – Airlines/Aviation News

Domestic airlines should consider deploying wide-body aircraft on dense domestic routes to add capacity as well as to control rising airfares, GE Aerospace’s chief executive for South Asia, Vikram Rai told Fe on Tuesday.

Lately, aircraft groundings due to supply chain constraints, along with the insolvency of GoFirst, have led to a capacity crunch, leading to a rise in airfares.

As a short-term solution, wide-body operations on dense domestic routes will add the much-needed capacity.

Rai said that India’s civil aviation market, with its rising passenger traffic and domestic airlines’ international expansion plans, warrants an additional 130–150 wide-body aircrafts approximately.

“Wide-body aircraft can play a crucial role in meeting the growing demand for air travel by allowing airlines to manage cost and operational excellence,” he said.

At present, there are around 50 wide-body aircraft in the country, with an additional 70 recently ordered by Air India.

On an overall basis, there is a requirement of approximately 200 wide-body aircraft in the country by the end of this decade, he said.

Currently, GE Aerospace’s jet engines power aircraft for India-based airlines. The company, along with its JV partner, has over 700 engines that are powering aircraft in India, with another 2,000 on order.

According to Rai, India presents a “remarkable opportunity” for growth in the commercial aviation market. “With over 440 million people in the middle-class segment, the potential to expand the commercial aviation sector is substantial. Currently, India has about 700 commercial aircraft, in contrast to over 5,000 aircraft in the United States,” he said, adding, “We see significant growth potential in the market and are eager to support local airlines”.

The enginemaker has been present in India’s aviation market for over 40 years, powering major Indian airlines such as Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo. Besides commercial aviation, in the defence segment, the Indian Air Force uses the company’s engines in its Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk 1 and helicopters, while the Indian Navy uses its equipment in its aircraft carrier battleships and frigates.

Currently, GE Aerospace has its own manufacturing plant in a form of a multi-modal facility located in Pune, with over 2,500 strong teams producing engine components across several engine platforms, including CFM and GE9X.

In addition, the company also has 13 Indian suppliers who contribute to meeting domestic and global requirements.

As per the company, the local sourcing of commercial engine parts from India has grown by ’20X’ between 2018 and 2022.