Jet engine firm Pratt & Whitney sets up third training centre in India, after US, China
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Hyderabad: Aircraft engine maker, Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, on Thursday opened its India customer training centre in Hyderabad, as India remains the only “bright spot” in the global aviation market. The centre, set up at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, is the third training centre of the company after the US and China — highlighting the importance that the company attaches to the Indian market. It was inaugurated by Union civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.
While the economic slowdown has hit the growth markets like China, Rus-sia, Brazil, and oil producing countries, the Indian aviation sector is expected to see a huge growth as more and more upwardly mobile middle class families shift to the air travel. According to Airbus, the world’s leading aircraft maker, India’s aviation industry is expected to grow at over 10 per cent annually in the next decade, almost double the average growth rate of the global aviation industry.
The factors that are expected to drive the gro-wth are India’s faster economic growth, improved consumer sentiment, and prospective cheaper airfares due to subdued oil prices. “Only two per cent of Indians have experienced aviation facilities which leaves a large room to tap. With the increasing capacity to spend, we feel the Indian middle class would help in boosting the aviation growth in the country. With all economic pointers showing impro-vement, we expect the sector to do well,” said Palash Roy Chowdhury, Pratt & Whitney’s country manager, on Thursday in Hyderabad.
The sector is expected to grow mainly on the demand from low cost carriers (LCCs). Pratt & Whitney said it has received orders for 600 new jet engines from IndiGo, GoAir and Air Costa, which offer an affordable air travel to cost-conscious Indians compared to full service airlines. According to a PwC report, much of that growth in the global aviation industry has been driven by low-cost carriers, which now control some 25 per cent of the worldwide market and which have been expanding rapidly in emerging markets, including in India.
“The world is focused on Indian aviation — from manufacturers, tourism boards, airlines and global businesses to individual travellers, shippers and businessmen,” Mr Tony Tyler, director general, International Air Transport Association, had said in his report.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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