Pvt cos may foray into aircraft manufacture

National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) acting Director Shyam Chetty has  said the country’s first Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA-70) will probably be developed and manufactured by private aerospace industry.

The RTA is expected to boost the connectivity between Tier-II and Tier-III cities besides the metros.

Speaking at the First Indian Aerospace CXO Round Table here on Monday, Chetty said that private aerospace industries will play a crucial role in development and manufacture of the aircraft as HAL is involved in a number of on-going projects.

“A couple of years ago, it would have been inconceivable to develop aircraft in India without HAL. But now, with HAL’s hands full, it cannot take up any more projects. Private participation in development and manufacture of the aircraft would be crucial,” he pointed out.

A high powered committee set up to prepare the feasibility report for the project has highlighted that significant funding for the project will come from the government along with major participation from the private sector. When the project was conceived in 2007, HAL and NAL were to jointly design and develop the aircraft.

Cost estimate

However, HAL for the next few years will be involved in the development of the Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA), Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) and the Multi Role Transport Aircraft (MRTA).
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 2010 had appointed former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair to head the 16-member high powered committee.

The feasibility study has concluded that there is a market potential for a 70 to 90-seat Regional Transport Aircraft.

It further suggested that the baseline design is a 90-seater twin turbofan engine powered aircraft and the cost is estimated at Rs 7,555 crore of which Rs 4,355 crore would be for the design and development and the remaining for the development phase.