Pilatus may set up aircraft manufacturing facility in India

HYDERABAD: Swiss aviation major Pilatus, which has a tie-up with IAF for trainee aircraft, is looking to set up a manufacturing facility in India for its PC-12 nine-seat airliner, a top company official said here.

The Swiss aircraft maker which will set up a training facility for its PC-7 MK-II aircraft as part of the agreement with the Indian Government, proposes to set up a support facility for its PC-12 aircraft, Vice-President of Pilatus Jim Roche said.

Currently Pilatus has two support facilities in Portugal and Poland for PC-12, Roche said.

"We see India as a large market for the future. We are in discussions with various companies on how we can expand the operations here in India to produce aircraft in India," Roche said on the sidelines of the function to induct Pilatus PC-7 Mk II into the IAF at Air Force Academy at Dundigal here.

The aircraft maker has delivered as many as 1,200 (PC-12) aircraft around the world.

He refused to give timeframe for the PC-12 facility in the country.

"In the initial stage we will be manufacturing only the airframes (of PC-12), which will come back to Switzerland to be assembled into final aircraft," he said.

"There are significant opportunities for us and we are here for the long term," he added.

There are a dozen PC-12 aircraft in India presently. Pilatus, which has contracts in place with HAL and BEL, always executes an offset policy looking for a long term sustainable solution. "Our vision is to establish through the offset policy the capability which will be a starting point for developing our position in India for the future," he added.

He further said PC-24 aircraft was successfully launched recently and it is in the early stage of development. "It is a twin-jet aircraft. We believe it will also be ideal for Indian market, though the first aircraft will roll out in production line only in 2017."