Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury led a delegation of French businessmen who visited India recently.
As chairman of GIFAS (French Aerospace Industries Association), the executive participated in several meetings and press conferences and at one of them expressed his vision regarding a possible Final Assembly Line (FAL) for Airbus aircraft in India.
According to him, the idea is attractive, but that it is not yet the right time for it.
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“In my view, India, in particular, can contribute to debottlenecking the supply chain in today’s environment, which again is not limited by the (existence or non-existence of) FAL. Actually, today, at Airbus, we are oversized in terms of the FAL system. And, we can’t be taking more orders knowing that we are fully booked,” said Faury.
For the Airbus CEO, the most important issue at the moment is to speed up the component production chain, which has been accumulating delays since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Delayed deliveries
Problems with suppliers have forced Airbus to revise its target for commercial aircraft deliveries in 2024 from 800 to 770 jets. Even so, the aircraft manufacturer was struggling to meet this target by September.
It is no surprise that Faury placed India as a key player in component production, stating that companies in the country doubled their sources of services and components to 1 billion euros between 2019 and 2024.
The Indian government has launched an ambitious program that aims to expand the economy, including installing several aircraft assembly lines in the country in partnership with foreign companies.
