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Interview: At the Singapore Airshow, Alan Lim, Director, Alton Aviation Consultancy, moderated a panel discussion on “Explore the future of Advanced Air Mobility” where various case studies and important issues were discussed. To brief more about the sector, Alan in an interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World talked about the emerging UAM and AAM sector and how it is going to transform the sector in future. Excerpts… What are your core areas of work in the Aviation sector? Alton Aviation Consultancy is a specialised management consultancy firm and it’s solely focused on the aviation sector. So if you talk about airlines, airports, MROs, and even some of the lessors or financial investors that are looking at aviation assets, we basically do these as well planned. So increasingly, we have a new practice called the mobility practice that’s looking at things like advanced air mobility. So that really looks at helping our clients understand what exactly is this market about, what do we have to expect, what people want, what is it going to look like, what are the use cases, the whole sort of things about the strategic and business planning side of the business, and of course how they should tackle this industry. So really our area of focus is more on the strategy inside of the business where we advise our clients really things about the market, about the outlook, about how they should tackle certain segments, or certain markets, what they should do. It’s very strategic working. With the current trend on UAM & AAM how do you see the market growing? I think for this UAM or AAM industry, we are at a stage right now where everyone is focused on building their vehicles and getting it certified for compliance service. We’ve heard across for the past few days, everyone is saying last year was about meeting everyone, understanding who our partners are . At this year, it’s about getting everything together, putting everything in place, and trying to push out to get the vehicle certified within the next 18 to 24 months by 2025-26 time frame. I think a lot of them recognize that if we look at the Asia-Pacific region, from the commercial aviation perspective, that is by far the largest market and then the fastest growing market in the world, right? There is a lot of growing middle class in the country, growing population, basically has very good tailwind for the growth of the entire aviation sector in general. But when we look at AAM in particular, we think about what are the used cases for these vehicles and what has been always talked about intra-City travel so traveling within the cities. So in a lot of Asia-Pacific countries, and even in parts of India, we see very congested cities where there is potentially a used case or market for these vehicles to transport people from point A to point B, you know, to cutting through all the different types of congestion. So I think, you know, other use cases that you can think about is, you know, logistics, getting tighter to last mile or, you know, industrial more remote type of logistics transport, which, again, if you look at Asia-Pacific, level of urbanization is not as high. There is a lot of potential for these type of landscape and I think by a large, a lot of the industry recognizes that this is a market that they cannot ignore. Asia-Pacific, or even the Middle East are markets where they have been supportive regulators and governments to try and develop not only the infrastructure but to help these OEMs bring their aircraft into service. There is also push to really develop that framework to be able to test and operate these vehicles. This supportive environment is one of the key enabler for this market to move forward to grow in the Asia-Pacific region. How do you see the adaption process when there is so much change in technology in this sector? I think what we’ve heard and what we’ve seen as well, there is a lot of operators as well as lot of the OEMs who are trying to get their vehicles certified first. Regulators are also taking a very cautious approach while certifying any vehicles. But having that limited and sort of very gradual approach to it has its benefit. Both regulators and operators has to get comfortable with the operation of the vehicles, but I think the more important bit is to allow the public to actually see this. Because an operation to accept that this is potentially a future form of transportation, but also to be able to be a bit more enthusiastic. Right now, people outside the industry will probably see it as a bit of a foreign content, not quite sure what it is, so until you see these things take out the sky, being operated on a limited basis, either demonstration flights or even, sort of limited commercial operations,that’s really how we build up that acceptance and enthusiasm you know, for these kinds of vehicles. So, I think what we will see is a very gradual of these services. I think within the next five years, it will still be relatively low-uptake as these vehicles will improve in technology. As you know, regulators get more comfortable with them but as we get into the 2030s,completely,but the mid-’30s, we’ll start faster, adoption of some of these folks. As a consultant what you would advice the start ups about the investment in this sector? From an investor’s perspective, I think a lot of the investors in this segment have a couple of rational stories. Like, one obviously it’s a growing segment that many of them views that they cannot ignore. So, we see the likes of Airbus, Boeing, even Embraer just behind us. They have embarked on AAM division or AAM company to develop their own vehicles. But I think the other angle is also the

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW The 11th edition of Arab Aviation Summit at Ras Al Khaimah witnessed top-class delegates from across the world. The 2-day event focused on key issues that are projected to develop Aviation and tourism in this region. At the summit, Frederico Fernandes, Director, Arab Aviation Summit in an interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World explained the significance of this summit and how it’s going to transform the Aviation activities in the Arab World. Excerpts… How Arab Aviation Summit (AAS) 2024 is important for this region and what’s the strategy for way forward? It’s our second year and I hope that the delegates are enjoying it. Arab Aviation Summit is a platform to showcase and to learn about Aviation in the Arab World and Arab Aviation Travel and it’s an amazing example for how to be successful and how to be disruptive into the Aviation sector. The latest mega hubs in the world happened to show here for a reason. We had Qatar, UAE and now we’re going with Riyadh. And also it’s a major hub for visiting relatives and friends and ethnic passengers. There are lot of great examples in all around cross-sector, from airlines to operators, software, managers, media for the Arab world. AAS is very private platforms attended by only guests where one meets and discuss the achievements and learn as well. So, that’s why we have a first day of the aviation event covered by workshops. Where we speak with our partners and we select which are the teams that are trending or the teams that we need to get better insights. Second day, the leaders discussed and showcased what they are doing in hope that we can also mobilize and inspire all the sector. As I believe that the focus is more on the sustainability and also the tech-enabled Aviation in the future. In 2023, the event focus was more on sustainability. What’s the theme for 2024? Last year, we had quite more focus on sustainability as it was our first year. We discussed a lot from infrastructure to technology. We had Airbus and some of the other players that were already using technology. This year we also discussed on sustainability but the focus was more on HR (Human Resource Capital) because it’s very important. We are seeing now that several areas are even growing further, like Riyadh. Others will also grow because they will lose qualified personnel to other areas. For example, India is a major concern because India is growing very fast in Aviation terms and it’s also improving the life. So many cities have a better life index meaning that a lot of people will go back home to work and those people are very important for Middle East. So, it’s really an issue that Middle East and Arab world needs to think about.   We need to start recruiting and enabling the next generation of professionals because there will be a lot of commuting between Asia, namely India, big power in Aviation and Middle East, which uses a lot of workforce from India. So, this is the thing that we wanted to discuss and we did it quite well. We brought Saudi, England, European universities and also local trainees and universities from Arab world. For investment, we had the panel as owners of assets that can go up to 300 billion. So, when they were discussing with us, where are they moving their aircraft or investments further? Again, India and Arab world, Saudi and UAE are on the top map. It’s very interesting for us as well as industry to understand this trend, so that they can start moving and constructing the future of tomorrow. Arab Aviation Summit is jointly hosted by RAK Tourism board. What are the benefits of jointly hosting this important event? RAK has been growing very well and it has an amazing team of tourism professionals that is following this incredible vision of His Highness, the ruler of RAK. They wanted to make a partnership with Arab Aviation Summit because of Aviation. But we exist to approach Aviation to travel because there is a lot of shows of travel, there is a lot of shows of aviation, but sometimes they don’t meet. The tourist operators don’t meet an aircraft manufacturer. Sometimes they want aircraft, but they don’t know how to do it. So, we are this bridge between the Aviation guys and the hospitality guys. So, I’m available to fly and to support. RAKTDA understood that movement and since the beginning partnered with us to allow that movement to happen in their beach. This is a commitment that we have together and I think it’s a wonderful relationship and they are also helping us to grow, which is a very important thing. What would be your focus for the future summit? What exactly are you looking forward to add on? For the next summit, we’re going to gather again the most influenced partners. RAKTDA is one of them and we’re going to reflect on what needs to be discussed because we will change the team again. After that, we try to curate the best speakers, the best entrepreneurs, the best brilliant minds and we will push the team out and work around that and call again the industry. Come and listen to us and we also want to listen to you and business will grow. Concluding remarks from you to cater to the much bigger Arab Aviation market? I think that Arab World, Arab Aviation and Arab Travel are a great example of success. Of course, we can see on top of the pyramid three countries that are also leading that success. But even if you look to further countries, they are also very interesting. Arab world is an extraordinary example of what is being done in terms of technology, digitalisation, flexibilisation and entrepreneurship. They created the biggest mega hubs and now they’re creating the biggest destinations in the world. It’s a great example

Exclusive Interview: For ATR, India is one of the most important market and it projects to have additional 50-150 aircraft in next decade in this region. In an exclusive interview, Jean Pierre Clercin, Head of commercial, ATR,APAC Region, shared his thoughts on various perspectives with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World. Excerpts… What is the current outlook of ATR for the Indian market in terms of number of orders and focus for the future as well? Asia Pacific is our largest market today and of course in the South Asia in particular I mean is coming forward and its going to be the largest one. If you look at our customer base in India, we have IndiGo that has today 45 aircraft that should come up to 50 this year. We have Alliance Air that has 20 ATR including 2 ATR 42 and then we have a newcomer called Fly91 that’s out of Goa and that has taken 2 aircraft from a leasing company based out of Dubai. So today, if you look at the position, there will be over 70 aircraft within the next 12 months. What makes ATR perfect fit for regional connectivity both in terms of operations and economics? So there are a few things. I think first, the aircraft in terms of its capacity for takeoff and landing can actually operate out of very simple runways and airports. It doesn’t require a lot of GSE to maintain. I mean, people can embark, disembark from the stairs. There is a built-in, if you want, power unit. It’s very independent in that sense and you can land and take off on runways of down to 1200 meters at full load. Of course, it depends on temperature and this kind of things. But I mean, that’s the ballpark. And of course, the ATR 42 has even better performance. It’s actually right above 1000 meters. And you probably heard we have this 42-600 STOL, that’s going to come up into service next year, which will be able to operate on the runway down to 800 meters. So if you look at the number of airports in India, but worldwide, I mean, yes, you have the big ones like the Delhi, the Mumbai, the Singapore, but then you have a lot of smaller airports. The worldwide traffic of 95% is concentrated in 5% of the bigger airports. So it means that there is 95% of the airports that only carry 5% of the traffic and usually can go. So that’s the first part that you can access these small runways in these small communities. The other part, of course, is that it’s good to have a capable aircraft, but it has to be, I would say, economically effective to be able to deliver the right customers because the people in those communities don’t necessarily have millions of dollars to pay, you know, in airfares. And so the aircraft, the ATR, is very frugal in terms of fuel burn. For instance, it has a very-very low cost base of operation. If you compare with similar regional jets, the ATR burns 45% less fuel than the original jets of the same category. With the obsession we have in delivering a good cost base, an excellent aircraft for airlines to be able to make a profit, but it can also serve the communities in the country. I think this is why it was so widespread and we’ve been in India now for more than 20 years. India is always been an important part of our markets. What’s been very interesting, I find is that you have a government that is extremely inspired. Today, the country is developing so fast that you need to develop more effective connectivity, and the vision that the government had with the VGF and the UDAN scheme supports that. The fact that the country has the rights to go around fast and we fit in that because we have the perfect products to serve those communities. It’s affordable and is easy to operate. Why still only scheduled operators are successful in RCS UDAN scheme and not NSOPs in India? Yes, the reason why I think because what happens in this segment of the market is that traditionally small players come into it but they are all afraid to start a route. If you’re a small player and you put an aircraft and say, okay, I think there’s going to be market there. And then you don’t find your market, you’re dead! What I think is very smart from the government is that they say, I’m going to help you with the risk. Not, forever, but for three years. Then it works and the operator stands on its own feet and it works and keeps on working. It’s not like they’re giving or subsidizing but they are taking other risks. And I think this is where the market is so vibrant today in India. And I think for me it’s the benchmark and other countries should look at. This is probably why India is so dynamic and has so much promise for tomorrow. Because, you have very smart people pushing the right policies. Courageous entrepreneurs and that makes actually this country and the place to be in aviation today. What numbers of aircraft orders you are projecting from India and what will be delivery schedule? In terms of order in India, we assess that over the next 10 years, 50 to 150 additional aircraft coming up in the country. So, that’s the official forecast. But, I do believe looking into the energy even 150 may be smaller. Apart from India which is your other important market? In terms of size it’s a bit deceptive because size is not necessarily the main story. I think growth is the main story. So, today, the biggest market for ATR is Indonesia. There is about a hundred aircraft actually over there. And second will be Brazil and India would have about the same level.