Airbus plans to bolster its sourcing from India to US$2 billion a year by 2030 – a jump of almost 43 per cent from the current levels – as it eyes growing sales in the South Asian nation’s booming aviation market.
“We have a target,” Remi Maillard, president and managing director of Airbus in India and South Asia, told reporters in New Delhi, adding that this quantum of sourcing will be achieved “well before 2030”.
The Toulouse-based firm sourced US$1.4 billion of products from India in 2024, an increase of 40 per cent from the previous year, Maillard said. That compares with US$500 million worth of procurement from India in 2019, he added.
The decision to boost sourcing reflects India’s growing importance, with its domestic aviation market ranked the world’s third largest.
In 2022, Airbus estimated that India will need 2,210 new aircraft over the next 20 years. Indian carriers have a pending order book of about 1,800 aircraft – one of the world’s largest order pipelines – with Airbus and rival Boeing.
Unprecedented growth
The growth in sourcing from India is unprecedented despite the numerous approvals and procedures that are required, Maillard pointed out.
Airbus is one of the biggest suppliers to IndiGo and Air India, two of the country’s largest carriers.
Maillard, who was speaking at an event to announce a partnership with Mahindra Aerostructures, said that the Indian company will manufacture fuselage for its single-engine H130 helicopters. Mahindra Aero structures will start deliveries to Airbus from March 2027.