BUSINESS
Tata Technologies and Air India have joined forces to reengineer the interiors of some of the carrier’s grounded aircraft and make them airworthy again in the hope of giving its fleet a further boost. The former flag carrier , owned by the Tata group, last month launched a $400 million refurbishment programme involving upgradation of 67 legacy planes comprising 27 narrow body and 40 wide-body aircraft. Air India is working with a whole host of partners including Recaro, Thales’s Avant Up and Lufthansa Technik for seating solutions, in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems and other components. As for Tata Technologies, this is a non-traditional project considering that the Pune-based company is mostly into providing solutions to automotive companies such as Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover. Speaking to FE, Warren Harris, managing director and CEO, Tata Technologies said, “Air India is very keen to expand its fleet. When the carrier was acquired by the Tata group, they had a number of products that had been cannibalised to keep the majority of the fleet in the air. “So, one of the things we have been doing is helping with the re-engineering of the interiors to basically enable some of the aircraft that have been on the ground to fly again,” Harris said. Despite the guidance of inducting one aircraft every six days, on an average, Air India is keen to expand further given the consistent growth in demand for overall air travel, both domestic and international. Given that the US aircraft maker Boeing is facing challenges on the production front, delivery schedules of several of its clients including that of Air India, which has placed orders for 220 planes, are getting stretched. Demand far outstrips supply for Airbus as well. The OEM delivered 50 aircraft in September but received orders for 235 in the same month. Air India had placed orders for 250 aircraft with Airbus. But according to Harris, Tata Technologies is working with Air India to hunt for means for cutting down the waiting period and accelerate the delivery of the aircraft. The company, which recently forged a joint venture with German carmaker BMW , is working with the manufacturers of seats and IFE systems. “Most of the issues are in the supply chain and so, what we are doing is leveraging the sponsorship from Air India to provide support to key elements of the supply chain that would benefit from the type of skills and capabilities we have,” Harris added. As uncertainty grows over aircraft delivery schedules, and the number of aircraft on the ground goes higher for Indian carriers, airlines are looking to make the most of the available resources to avoid losing market share. Presently the domestic aviation market is dominated by IndiGo (63%) and Air India group (29%). None
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