Adani Group, Embraer to set up regional aircraft manufacturing facility in India

Adani Group and Brazilian major Embraer on Tuesday announced a strategic collaboration that aims to set up a regional aircraft manufacturing facility in India, a significant boost for the country's indigenous manufacturing capabilities.

India is one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets and the partnership will look to help enhance air connectivity to Tier 2 and 3 cities. Officials of Adani Defence & Aerospace and Embraer inked the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the strategic collaboration on regional transport aircraft in India at a function at the civil aviation ministry in the national capital on Tuesday.

Both companies will also set up a Final Assembly Line (FAL) for the regional aircraft of Embraer in the country. Adani Defence & Aerospace Director Jeet Adani said with the Embraer collaboration, a regional aircraft manufacturing facility will be set up in India.

Embraer makes commercial jets with up to 150 seats. Details about the investments and the location of the proposed facility were not disclosed. Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha said the collaboration is not just about assembling a regional aircraft but also about progressive technology transfer, skilling, having robust supply chain as well as making India a trusted manufacturing hub for regional aircraft.

With the partnership, Adani Group, which already has a good presence in the fast-growing Indian aviation space, will be making its foray into building aircraft in India. Jeet Adani said a couple of sites are being looked at for the manufacturing facility and things would be finalised in the next couple of months.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said this is the time to be in India as he highlighted the manufacturing and growth potential of the country. The need for regional transport aircraft has never been strong before and will help in providing solutions for many problems. The collaboration can also have manufacturing aircraft for the larger South Asian market, Naidu said.

The venture with the Adani Group will be a major fillip for the Brazilian major in India's civil aviation space where it aims to provide cost-competitiveness with its regional jets.

Adani Defence & Aerospace President & CEO Ashish Rajvanshi said the collaboration is a "watershed" in Aatma Nirbharata (self-reliance) of the country. Currently, Embraer, whose E-Jets began operations in India in 2005, has nearly 50 aircraft in the country serving the Indian Air Force, government agencies, business jet operators and commercial airline Star Air.

The Indian market is expected to require at least 500 aircraft in the 80 to 146 seat range over the next 20 years, Embraer said in a release on January 21.