Govt looks to make jets locally: Prabhu

The government is working on a blueprint for the domestic manufacturing of aircraft and also looking at aircraft financing from within the country, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media at the Global Aviation Summit 2019, organised jointly by the civil aviation ministry, the Airports Authority of India and Ficci, the minister also emphasised on carrying out of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work domestically.

"We will soon roll out a road map for manufacturing of aircraft in India," Prabhu said.

Stating that the country needs 2,300 new aircraft to meet the future air travel demand, he said, "We would like to join hands with top players from across the globe."

The minister said the government wants aircraft financing to be done by domestic players.

"We are already working on financing of aircraft and how that should happen from India. We are losing out lot of resources to outsiders," Prabhu said.

He further said the government wants aircraft MRO to happen in the country.

"There are so many planes and the maintenance and repairs can be done in India," he said. MUMBAI: The country is going to add

1,000 aircraft over the next 7-8 years, a top government official said on

Tuesday. India is the fastest growing domestic aviation market and has been registering double-digit growth for more than 50 consecutive weeks.

Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said the country is an aviation locomotive for the world and provides humongous opportunities for players across the globe to grow. "We would be adding about 1,000 more aircraft in about next 7-8 years," Choubey said, adding that the country would also be having 100 more airports and one billion trips in the next 15 years. Scheduled domestic carriers have more than 600 planes in their fleets, according to the vision document released by the civil aviation ministry Tuesday. The domestic aviation has been growing at 20 per cent every year for the last four years and the growth has been sustained, Choubey said. "This growth is going to be there for at least 20 more years, if only the oil prices behave," he said at the Global Aviation Summit organised by industry body Ficci.