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Airbus may aid airlines in credit
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is hoping to enlarge its presence in India, a senior official has said.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is hoping to enlarge its presence in India, a senior official has said.
“India continues to be the fastest emerging market in the world and with a 11.3 per cent growth in traffic per annum and would need as many as 992 planes by 2026,” Christian Scherer, executive vice president with the aviation major, said here on Tuesday.
Asked about the impact of the ongoing global slowdown on Airbus’ operations, he said the company could play the role of a credit facilitator to help its clients.
"For any airline, funding is planned well in advance. But to lend for delivery is the last resort for us, and that is marginal," Christian Scherer, executive vice president with the aviation major, said here on Tuesday.
“We do not have huge inventories and our deliveries would not be affected,” he clarified.
Scherer did not disclose how many aircraft deliveries have been deferred or cancelled since the global slowdown began.
About how the slowdown could affect India's aircraft requirements, Scherer said "this (slowdown) is a little bit deeper than what we have seen earlier, but the effects would be get diluted in 2-3 years."
Speaking about Airbus' Industrial Cooperation with India, Scherer said "India is a strategic country for Airbus and we would like to increase our footprint and engineering services in India in the years to come."
