Exclusive | India poised to triple aviation fleet with visionary leadership, says ATR COO

Franco-Italian regional aircraft manufacturer ATR is bullish about the Indian aviation market. The company looks forward to double the total number of operational aircraft in India in the next decade. In an exclusive interaction with CNBC-TV18, Alexis Vidal, Chief Commercial Office (CCO) of ATR said that he sees incredible potential in the Indian market and expects regional air passenger traffic to triple in the next few years. Vidal also sees a very positive impact of the UDAN Scheme and feels that India has visionary leaders to continue to develop the aviation ecosystem. Here’s the full interview.

Q) ATR has been present in India from the last quarter of a century, what opportunities do you see right now?

India has an incredible potential, to give you one key figure and one example, air transportation only accounts for 3% of the total regional mobility in India. We believe there is potential to double and triple the number of passengers that move from ground to air transportation. This is where ATR can play a key role, as l we’ve been in India for 25 years and we are looking for the next 25 years with a market that can absorb many more aircraft supplied into the Indian market.

Q) How is the current business & has the regional connectivity scheme aided sales?

It’s been a great 25 years in India, today we have three major airline partners like Indigo, Alliance Air and Fly91. Currently we have 67 aircraft in the country and we are looking at getting much more aircraft to India. The business is very interesting because it is interestingly strongly supported on the regional connectivity scheme UDAN. We praise the government for having launched it 7 years ago, the scheme which I believe has proven to be very successful. Humbly believe that ATR has contributed by providing the most competitive regional aircraft on the market to the success of the Udan policy.

Q) What more can the government do to push India’s regional air connectivity?

First of all, very positively encouraged by the government and the policy making, and government’s decision at continuing the UDAN scheme for another 10 years. This is a very important step by the government. There are many additional components that can be considered in support of regional mobility. Developing infrastructure and new airports, making sure that regional air connectivity has the capacity and the airport slots to continue to connect Tier 2 and tier 3 cities from tier 1 cities. Very importantly, the government should continue to develop access to financing for new aircraft to be acquired or leased by airlines. The current airlines or new startup airlines that are coming, they are booming in the country.

Q) What’s the outlook for the Indian market?

As per our outlook, we are looking for the next decade at potential for possibly another 200 aircraft more solely based on the regional market. The regional market has the potential to double its market share compared to the ground based transportation which works in India. We look forward to connect communities, to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. So that there’s a huge potential in terms of aircraft to be added and airlines developing operations.

Q) With the government’s plan to push aircraft manufacturing in the country, what are your plans?

India has a great ambition, and it has visionary leaders to continue to develop the aviation ecosystem. So we’ve been in the country for 25 years flying, we want to continue to develop that. it’s very natural for us to continue to look for partnership with Indian companies and the Indian industry. This is in order to consider the supply of equipment and components from India as an example.