MADE IN INDIA DORNIER 228 CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will soon test a 19-seater civilian version of the Dornier 228 aircraft, built completely at the state-owned company’s Kanpur facility, Chairman and Managing Director T. Suvarna Raju said in an interview. Two such aircraft are currently being built there. Originally made by Dornier GmbH of Germany, HAL tied up with the German company and has built 125 Dornier 228s since 1985 for the armed forces and the Indian Coast Guard, initially by just assembling the aircraft before it started manufacturing all the parts in India. HAL may now give the aircraft on dry lease to Indian civil aviation companies, Raju said. He went on to say that Air India has shown interest in using Dorniers for regional connectivity.