Embraer eyes aircraft market in smaller Indian cities

Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer is betting big on the growing aviation markets in the smaller cities of India.

One of the world's largest aerospace companies and a leader in the category of commercial jets with up to 120 seats, it feels their aircraft will get the benefit of this growth.

"Many major routes like Delhi-Trivandrum are not connected through a direct flight because all the airlines operate big aircraft on this route, difficult to fill. Now, with our small aircraft, the airlines can operate direct services and make enough on such routes," said Alex Glock, the company's vice-president (marketing & sales), commercial aviation.

"We have met all the airlines in the country and all of them invariably agree to our analysis. We see a great opportunity here, as the smaller cities are to see a lot of growth. We plan to sell 50 aircraft over the next 10 years in the country," Glock said.

Of 44 million air passengers in 2009, as many as 27 million were from Tier-II and III cities. The growth projections in number of passengers for smaller cities during 2009-15 is 14 per cent annually.

In terms of connectivity, Tier-II and III cities lag. Average daily frequencies to Tier-I cities are 18 but the connectivity to smaller cities is only 2.5.

A study by Embraer says around 30 per cent of the flights from smaller cities depart with loads appropriate for a 70-seater plane and 47 per cent of the flights depart with load appropriate for 90-110-seater planes.

"This is where our planes can fit in and make to make operations profitable for the airlines. We see a need for 110 of our aircraft in this segment," said Glock.

Embraer is one of the world's largest supplier of 70 to 122-seater commercial aircrafts and around 600 of their aircraft are operational in 54 countries across the world.