Airbus sees Air-India buying its 550-seater jet

European aircraft maker Airbus on Tuesday said it expects Air-India to purchase about 30 of its largest A-380 aircraft to cater to long routes.

The 550-seater aircraft, which will enter airline service from 2006, is billed to be the largest aircraft in the world.

"Looking at the traffic growth, new routes, replacement of ageing fleet, there is a real need for Air-India to have maybe up to 30 A-380 aircraft for international flights. We expect Air-India to seriously consider the A-380 by 2008," Airbus vice president (India, Africa and West Asia) Kiran Rao told reporters.

Projecting a requirement of 222 aircraft worth $17.5 billion for the Indian market by 2019, he said 60 per cent of these orders would comprise of 150-seater aircraft, while a large number would constitute 250-seater airplanes.

The double-deck A-380 aircraft which was launched in December 2000 would enter airline service in 2006. Airbus has already secured 130 orders from 10 customers.

Emirates and Singapore Airlines would be taking delivery of the A380 aircraft to start non-stop flights to the US from Dubai and Singapore.

This, Rao said, would enable people in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai to travel to the United States directly from these two destinations.

He said Airbus will bid for Air-India 's $1.5 billion acquisition of 18 160-seater short range aircraft for which the carrier has shortlisted its A-321 airplane along with Boeing 737-900 for evaluation.

Airbus and rival US aircraft giant Boeing have also submitted financial bids for Air-India's acquisition of 10 long-range aircraft with options for seven.

While Airbus has offered its A-340-300 airplane, Boeing has evinced interest in supplying the 777-200 (extended range) aircraft.

Rao said Airbus was waiting for the government approval for the mega $2.2 billion acquisition of 43 aircraft by state-owned Indian Airlines for which 19 A319, 20 A321 and four A 320 aircraft have been shortlisted by the Indian Airlines board.

"The thorough evaluation by Indian Airlines and their selection has shown the economy, reliability and commonality of parts of our aircraft," he said.

Claiming that Airbus would deliver more number of aircraft than Boeing this year, for the first time in its history, regional press manager (communications) David Velupillai said a war in Iraq might impact the global aviation industry.

"As long as the situation (in Iraq) does not get worse, we expect to deliver 300 aircraft as last year. We will review the situation in April/May how the market reacts," he said.

Rao said Airbus was in talks with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited here, which is making passenger doors for the A-320 aircraft, for 'more work packages.'

"We have offered a few more work packages to HAL. They are bidding for that. Bangalore's Infosys is also participating in aircraft design," he added.

He said discussion were also on with the private airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara for selling aircraft.

Besides, Airbus has received interest from the Indian government for its corporate jet.

Under a $50 million deal, HAL has a contract with Airbus to provide 600 sets of the doors, some 350 of which have been delivered till date. HAL also makes parts for the A-320 nose undercarriage.

Lockheed Martin Corp of the United States, too, said on Monday that is sees India as a major market for civilian and military planes in coming years.