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European aircraft maker Airbus on Tuesday said it is planning to set up a training centre in India and announced expansion of its tie-up with Bangalore-based VidhyaCom Technologies to provide engineering services and illustrations for the double-deck A-380 aircraft.
"We are looking at having a specific training centre in India," David Vellupillai, regional press manager of Airbus, which has training centres at Toulouse in France, Beijing and Miami, told reporters on the eve of AeroIndia 2005.
The location had not been decided, he said, but indicated that Bangalore "is one of the possibilities". "We are still in the early stages of looking at the center." He declined to share more details, saying, "studies have not been finished".
He also announced that Airbus has chosen VidhyaCom Technologies, a niche company working with the European aircraft maker since 1998, to provide engineering services and illustrations for A-380 under a new agreement.
VidhyaCom, so far involved in technical publishing and training, would now help create illustrations and drawings that go into various A-380 technical manuals with the work to be performed at its development centre in Bangalore.
On Indian Airlines' $2 billion deal for Airbus' 43 A-320 aircraft to replace the older aircraft, for which the Public Investment Board had granted approval in November 2004, he said, "we are in discusions with Indian Airlines to finalise that deal". IA flies 44 Airbus A-320s now.
Asked about selling its military transport A-400 aircraft to the Indian Air Force, he said Airbus was not actively promoting it in India. But "IAF is a potential customer in the longer run," he said.