Hyderabad: India Aviation 2014, the country’s biggest civil aviation show, kicked off in the south Indian city of Hyderabad on Wednesday with the signing of the biggest deal between one of world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers, Boeing, and Indian carrier Spice Jet.
A $4.4 billion (Dh16.2 billion, Rs268 billion) deal to buy 42 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft was signed by Boeing’s Senior Vice-President, Asia-Pacific and India Sales, Dinesh Keskar, SpiceJet CEO Sanjeev Kapur and Sun Group CFO S.L. Narayanan.
This is the fourth edition of the biennial event and nearly 250 companies from 18 countries are participating.
Speaking on the occasion, Keskar said the delivery of the aircraft would begin from 2018. SouthWest Airlines will have the first of these aircraft in 2017.
Talking of the 737 MAX variant of the 737-800, Keskar said that the aircraft was 14 per cent more fuel efficient and would have a new engine and bigger wings. “We are hopeful of orders from Air India and Jet Airways,” he said.
Sun Group CFO Narayanan said that the SpiceJet greatly values the ties it has built over the years with Boeing.
“The Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft, the mainstay of the fleet ever since SpiceJet started operations, have vindicated our choice by their endurance, reliability and cost effectiveness,” he said.
With Wednesday’s deal, SpiceJet has ordered 90 airplanes directly from Boeing, which includes the 737-800, 737-900ER and now the 737 MAX. Thirty one of the aircraft have been delivered to SpiceJet.
The Airbus A 380 of Dubai-based Emirates airlines was the centre of attention at the exhibition that showcased aircraft of various sizes from manufacturers like Boeing, Bombardier, Embarer and Dassault.
G Ashok Kumar, joint secretary, Civil Aviation, said that with the Indian economy coming out of its worst phase, a number of big ticket deals will be signed during the event.
Promoting air connectivity beyond the Metros to the Tier II and Tier III cities was the theme of this year’s event.
The Indian aviation market is the world’s ninth biggest and experts say that by 2020 it will become world’s third biggest market just behind the USA and China.
