Boeing to deliver 107 commercial airplanes to India

Bangalore, Feb 8 (PTI) The Boeing Company would deliver107 commercial airplanes to India out of which 37 will be 787Dreamliner passenger jets, a top company official said today.

Boeing India president Dinesh Keskar, however, did notspecify the timeline for delivery of the aircrafts. Theproject to deliver the commercial airlines is almost threeyears behind schedule.

Boeing''s engagement with India has increased in parallelwith the growth of strategic Indo-US relationship.

"The company''s offset commitment of USD 2.3 billion is acatalyst to spur technology development and job creation, andto firmly establish India''s industrial position in theinternational aerospace supply chain," Keskar, who is alsoVice-President of Boeing International, said.

The other growth drivers were profit making Indian aircarriers, growth of tier 2 and 3 airports and India becoming akey military spender, Keskar said.

Today''s industry strategy is to develop aerospacecapabilities common to commercial and defence sectors, developSMEs to enhance the supply chain ecosystem, leverage technicalstrength in aerospace and enhance potential industry skill-setto build leadership, he said.

Boeing has 17 suppliers in India as against 10,000worldwide, Keskar said.

In addition to offering the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in thecurrent medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition,other opportunities include C-17 Globemaster III, Apache,Chinook and P-81, Vice-President, International BusinessDevelopment for Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), MarkKronenberg said.

Boeing also sees opportunities in the areas of homelandsecurity, unmanned systems, cybersecurity, space and servicesand support.

Boeing is working with top India manufacturers includingHindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited, theTata group, L&T to build several key components, Mark said.

It had increased its investment in training its partnersin Lean manufacturing and programme management. Through itsresearch and technology centre in Bangalore, Boeing wasdeveloping fundamental research in materials, avionics andaero structures in partnership with the Indian Institute ofScience (IISc), National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and fiveuniversities in India.

The company plans to expand the number of suppliers --both public and private sectors -- in India and insertcapability where there were gaps, thereby broadening the baseof indigenous capability and increasing global competitivenessof India''s supply base, he said.