A Word from Editor

An important Sector of the Indian civil aviation industry is its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) segment which rather unfortunately in India, has not registered a growth rate that matches that of the industry. In this issue of the magazine, in a comprehensive analysis of the problems faced by the MRO industry in India, Sukhchain Singh has catalogued in detail, the measures the Government of India needs to adopt to provide the necessary impetus to enable it achieve a healthy rate of growth. Also, there is a report by Bharat Malkani, Chairman & Managing Director, Max Aerospace and Aviation on the need to correct the glaring policy imbalances in the MRO industry in India. In the report, he has attributed the slow rate of growth of this segment of the industry essentially to the flawed policies of the Government of India especially with regard to the high rate of taxes imposed as compared to the neighbouring countries. Companies owning and operating aircraft based in India quite understandably, opt to avail of MRO services in the neighbouring countries that do not levy such high rates of taxes. This has been seriously impinging on the health of the MRO industry in India. In another article on MRO in this issue, Sukhchain Singh delves into SWARM Technology in MRO industry. This is the next generation of cloud solutions that will help process data from predictive maintenance to in-flight performance and ageing of the aircraft can be better tracked and understood.

Despite all the impediments and challenges that the Indian civil industry is confronted with today, Boeing appears to be highly optimistic about its growth prospects in the coming years. As per a Commercial Market Outlook report by Boeing released in the first week of November this year, India will be a $770 billion market in the next two decades. Consequently, this phenomenal rate of growth will drive a demand for 2,380 new jet aircraft, a highly inspiring projection for the global aerospace industry. This issue of SP’s AirBuz carries a report by Vishal Thapar on the forecast by Boeing as also an interaction between Jayant Baranwal, Editor-in-Chief of SP’s AirBuz with Salil Gupte, President Boeing India and Darren Hulst, Senior Managing Director, Market Analysis and Sales Support, Boeing Commercial Airplanes during the release of Boeing’s “2019 India Commercial Market Outlook”.

From innovative ideas to significant announcements, the world’s aviation leaders were all seen displaying their capabilities at the recently held Dubai Airshow 2019 (DAS). With about 80 per cent of the global population located within eight hours of one of the UAE’s airports, Dubai Airshow is certainly “connecting the aerospace industry”, as was its motto this year. The 2019 edition of DAS was one of the busiest till date with a footfall of over 84,000 trade attendees, over 161 aircraft on static display, over 1,288 exhibitors, and the order book on site reaching $54.5 billion. Ayushee Chaudhary maps the show highlights in her report in this issue.

All this and more in this issue of SP’s AirBuz. Welcome aboard and we wish you many happy landings!

Jai Hind!