Thaindian News

Hyderabad, March 15 (IANS) Embraer plans to expand its presence in India and become a major player in the business jets market by 2015, an official of the Brazilian plane maker said Thursday.

The company sees India as the second key market after China in Asia for its business jets.

Embraer vice president Jose Eduardo Costas told reporters at India Aviation 2012 that the company can’t overlook the Indian market.

Making a forecast for business jets over the next 10 years, he said the Asia Pacific require 1,363 to 1,690 aircraft worth $40-48 billion.

For South Asia, the projected demand is 390 to 485 business jets worth $10 to 12 billion and India accounts for least 90 plus percent of this, Costas said.

According to him, India has 130-140 private jets flying and the total fleet of Embraer’s executive jets is 14.

“We believe its significant market share in relatively short time and we have deployed all resources we have in terms of customer support investment, certification of our products for enhancing the orders.”

“We want to become a major player by 2015. It need not be top market share. We want to be remembered by customers as one of the biggest player in this business,” he added.

Costas said India was one of the few countries in the world where Embraer was selling all its executive business jets from the Phenom 100 to Lineage.

Meanwhile, Embraer has signed a memorandum of understanding with Air Works India Engineering Pvt. Ltd to create a spares repository for all of its executive jets in India.

The agreement paves the way for parts for Embraer’s Phenom 100, Legacy 600/650 and Lineage 1000 to be housed in Air Works’ facility in Bangalore.

India is the third country in Asia Pacific in which Embraer has placed a parts depot. The move also complements the role of Embraer’s Regional Distribution Center (RDC) based in Singapore as well as its facility in Australia.