Interviews

One of India’s key player in Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS),ideaForge recently unveiled its the most ambitious product ‘NETRA 5’. At a time when globally borders are having several challenges,this product is designed for defence and security operations in challenging environments where missions face constant threats. In an exclusive interview, Mr. Rahul Singh, Co-founder and VP Engineering, ideaForge explains Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World about technical capabilities of Netra5 and ideaForge vision towards indigenisation. Excerpts: Kindly brief about ideaForge, its works and plans ahead? ideaForge represents one of the most pioneering efforts in driving cutting edge, autonomous, Indian drone products. We are present for more than a decade now. The company was founded in 2007 and has focused on creating the best in class unmanned aerial systems of India particularly for the domestic needs and for the global as well. Our latest product NETRA 5, which was officially launched at the Aero India 2025 represents the culmination of advanced technologies that we have brought to this class of products so far. What is NETRA 5 and its USP for the Indian market? NETRA 5 builds on the long legacy of the NETRA range of products which have been used by our domestic customers for more than a decade. The latest version of NETRA not just inherits but builds on the strengths of what the previous products were. The three pillars of our product philosophy are performance, reliability and autonomy. So this NETRA 5 version extends the performance to deliver a class leading performance of more than 75 minutes with a built-in multi-sensor dual payload. It has the ability to attach a variety of secondary payloads while still inheriting the capability of the primary payload on the platform. On terms of the reliability, the product extends the reliable operation and autonomous operation with a host of new technologies. It builds in all direction obstacle avoidance which increases the availability and reliability of the operation that the product is doing. The product also comes built in with advanced vision based navigation systems which enable it to survive GPS jamming and GPS denial kind of challenging environments and increasing the availability of the system in the most contested environments. What are the technical capabilities of NETRA 5 ? In terms of its communication capability, NETRA 5 comes with a built-in frequency hopping kind of a scenario where it’s able to have a higher resistance to communication jamming attempts as well. It further provides an insight to what is happening and what the aircraft is seeing even in the most jammed and contested environments. This whole product still remains back packable and a single man can carry it on the field and deploy it in a matter of minutes and be able to achieve a variety of applications. This particular product will be available for all sorts of applications from military to enterprise and civilian applications, domestic as well as international positioning. “NETRA 5 is a one man portable system capable of delivering more than 75 minutes of endurance with a dual payload. It is capable of doing operations up to 5000 meter plus take-off altitude serving very high altitude applications. It has the capability of carrying an additional 2 kg payload for a variety of applications. It could be carrying a radar or a multispectral camera or any of the search and rescue related other payloads which may be required. These payloads can also be attached by third party value added partners who may have specialised payloads for various applications and the aircraft provides compatibility to all those third party payloads.” Can you elaborate on the third party payload supplier? What are threats attached to it? A third party payload supplier could be someone specialising in for example a radar sensor, someone specialising in an agri-specific multi-spectral sensor, or an inspection related sensor, etc. For a variety of applications there are third party service providers who are specialists in various applications who can mount their sensors onto this platform and inherit all the high performance specifications and make that sensor data available with the combination of these high performance specifications. While doing this we have also focused a lot on indigenisation which use to be our core theme. We have been the loudest voice for many years focusing on at least technologies of critical nature coming from geographies of concern. The whole technology stack in a graded risk manner and the most critical part are the critical components which handle data or control the communication of the aircraft which would include the core autopilot or the communication related systems, or even any data recording or payload related systems. All of these coming from any country of concern is a strategic risk for any critical application which will use it. All the products that we supply today are free of any critical component coming from any country of concern. On top of that we are taking this whole effort further while we provide a 100% assurance of no critical component coming from any country of concern. What are the other invisible challenges of the sector and steps to overcome them? The second layer of concern lies with the supply chain deniability. For example, if there is a specialised technology and the country denies to export the same. IdeaForge is in process to indigenise a lot of critical technologies like motors, composite manufacturing to happen in India. We are working with a handful of various smaller companies in the country who are specialised in these components and we are providing full support for these companies to come up and be a strong local ecosystem which will support all these critical technologies. So as a combination of zero critical subsistence coming from areas of countries of concern and all the other specialised technologies being made by the local ecosystem. I think this area is something that we are in a very good place to assure our customers that there is no concern in terms of

At the 4th edition of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence – The AI India Show 2025 in Delhi, CII-Protiviti Report titled, “AI Trends and Future Impact: Industry Adoption & Insights”, was launched. At the occasion, Mr. Dhrubabrata Ghosh Dastidar, Managing Director, Protiviti Member Firm for India in an interview with Vishal kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World discussed on the various aspects of Artificial Intelligence and how is playing a pivotal role in transforming the aviation & aerospace sector at large. Excerpts: What are the sectors that Protiviti caters to ? We at Protiviti are predominantly into the services side. We would use all the products which are there in the market which brings in technological interventions to deliver our services. We are also into providing professional services and implementation for our clients into various sectors and aviation & aerospace is one of our key work areas. What exactly Protiviti does into this particular segment? In aviation sector, our major area of work is airport and the airport related services along with commercial and charter flights. Globally, we offer them solutions to their business problems in regard to technology, digital perspective etc. AI is transforming the scenario of aviation sector on full scale basis. How do you see Protiviti as one of the valued contributor from a larger perspective? Let’s look at what is driving and what are the major AI interventions that these organizations will look for in Aviation or aerospace at large. The sector is customer driven and for better experience role of AI is very significant. In recent times, at many Indian airports, Digi Yatra has transformed the airport experience where the system recognises a passenger through its face and helps through a faster check-in process. The same facial recognition can be used across the entire airport, through the entire sector and it can help and personalise and tell what is it that something that you would need through your journey. The second comes, let’s say again if you are in an airport and there are large numbers of cameras which are capturing and trying to do a footfall analysis. The concept is to identify how many people are there in different parts of the airport and how they can leverage the ground forces which are there to provide better experience again back to them for convenience. The other aspect where AI plays a huge role is into Predictive Maintenance. In Aviation, it can help in demand planning, forecasting and pricing for the airline. It works as an interface between the customers who tries to book tickets through online platforms and make the journey interactive. Then, we have Generative AI which also plays a huge role in public interaction. Today, these Large Language Models (LLMs), chat bots tries to answer the queries and engage while doing any bookings. So, these are the segments where Protiviti can contribute in a bigger way. Is there any plan to venture into the UAV segment as well? UAV as a sector or as an industry needs a little bit more penetration from our side. If you look into the used cases, definitely it’s moving from just UAVs to AUAVs. In UAVs, till date there are people manning those UAVs from their booths or from any particular places but the AUAVs will be more autonomous in nature. They will try to take the decisions as they go on. The future will be more of edge AI, Agentic AI that would be coming into the whole picture and for further it will be not just UAVs but the UGVs as well. From defence perspective, it’s not just the air vehicles, even the ground vehicles is something that one would be focusing upon as well. So that’s another area which is gaining traction and we are hoping to do more in that segment. How are you empowering your team with so advancement of technology? If you look at AI, there are three aspects to it. The first is the different kind of used cases which needs to be built for any particular sector. That’s predominantly a more business-focused AI drive that needs to be there which requires a different skill set. The second one is as there are multitudes of products into AI where some focuses upon visual analytics, or on image analytics, likewise. There are AIs which are working back with the products which exist in the market and it requires a different set of people who understands that business and its problem. The third set is for creating these models which requires people who have a very specific data engineering background. These talents can help kind of crunch that data and create those models. So, we are also focusing on getting such people and train them to create those models in-house. But again, just creating these models is one part of it. To work back with the product companies requires a separate skill set, separate set of people and thinking of these used cases which we have mentioned in our report where 74 per cent of the people use AI to increase operational efficiency. How much is the accuracy quotient of AI in its operations? At present there are four broad classifications of AI; Predictive AI, Generative AI, Agentic AI and the Edge AI. Among all of these, Edge AI is very accurate as it works on the last mile. So, this AI needs to be 100 per cent accurate or even 99.99 per cent accurate to ensure that there is nothing which is going wrong. The predictive AI is often utilises stochastic model which is going to give 100 per cent accurate results. However, the acceptable accuracy for them is in the tune of 90 to 95 per cent and even at times 87 to 90 per cent accuracy level is also considered correct. In case of Generative AIs, if you remember the GPT-3s, or even the previous generations of these generative AI responses, there were a lot of hallucinations.

SAMTEL Avionics, a key player in India’s defence technology sector has actively contributed towards Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative while simultaneously placing the nation on the global map of high-tech design and manufacturing through strategic collaborations with international aerospace, defence and railway companies. At the recently held Aero India 2025, SAMTEL had a significant presence where it signed an MoU with Germany based global defence leader HENSOLDT Avionics to explore possibilities of establishing a co-production facility in India through an Industrial partnership for the HENSOLDT’s Products. In an exclusive Interview, Mr. Puneet Kaura, MD and CEO, SAMTEL Avionics speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor Aviation World more about the MoU and overall business presence and vision towards contributing in the Make in India initiative.Excerpts… What are the major takeaways at Aero India 2025? SAMTEL Avionics had a very prominent presence at Aero India 2025 where we had dynamic discussions, meaningful interactions and a shared commitment to take India’s aerospace and defence capabilities to the next level. One of the major developments was the signing of MoU between SAMTEL and HENSOLDT Avionics, which we aim to be the beginning of a new relationship. Under this agreement, we will manufacture high technology airborne products for Indian and global customers in India. What will be that product and how you see its demand? It’s basically HENSOLDT’s product – LCR 100 CaviSight and Cavi Connect for which we will set up co-production facility in India through an industrial partnership. SAMTEL will manufacture this product in India and if required for any subsequent products related to the same, that will also be co-developed. This will also cater to the global requirements as part of the future collaboration. There are quite few Indian customers, who would require this product but we believe, globally the demand will be big. What’s your vision towards this initiative? We are looking at starting a relationship with HENSOLDT which is first of its kind in India. HENSOLDT is one of the major aerospace and defence leaders out of Germany and are making some very fine products. So, this product line is beginning of their commitment to partner with Indian players for developing high technology products which would be required in the country. This will also fulfill the need of having various TPP requirements of the local products and at the same time making products for the world. This also meets the vision of our Prime Minister which he has put forward for the defence and aerospace sector. We have found a good partner as HENSOLDT which is very open to adapting and working with Indian companies locally to cater to the local requirements. What are the core domains of Samtel Avionics into which it works in India? SAMTEL is an avionics and electronics company as far as defence is concerned. We make electronic products for aviation which caters to the need of both military as well as civilian applications. Apart from defence, we also make electronic products for armoured vehicles and tanks for specially for our nation’s military needs. These are basically high technology avionics and electronic products and some subsystems which are required by armed forces. As diversified business, we also work with Indian railways for their electronic products need. How is Samtel Avionics contributing towards Make In India initiative? As part our JV with HAL, we manufacture cockpit displays for various defence aircrafts in India. We supply high technology cockpit displays for all types of fixed wing and rotary wing helicopter platforms. Samtel has designed, developed and manufactured state-of-the-art multifunction displays for platforms like the Su-30 MKI fighter Jet, the Light Combat Helicopter (LCH)/Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH)/Utility Helicopter Maritime, and Standby Displays for HTT-40 trainer aircraft. We are now working on the Utility Helicopters-Maritime (UHM) helicopter and the list goes on just to name a few. This basically makes, SAMTEL a very significant part of the ecosystem both from Indian Air Force and Army Aviation perspective. For future, we are also in discussions with Naval Aviation for some of the applications. All the service being provided by us fulfills the “Make In India” initiative of our government. What’s the future plan towards enhancing the capabilities and services of Samtel Avionics? The future plan of action is aligned with the kind of road map which Indian MoD has put forward for the Indian industry. We are going to align with that plan, which means that we would keep on enhancing our capabilities either by ourselves or with partners like our latest partnership with HENSOLDT. The plan is to bring state of the art high technology products to our armed forces and deliver them with absolute precision quality and at the same time continuously look at global market space. We are already working with multiple global air forces and some of the global OEMs based out of west and Europe and US for various projects. In future, we want to continue doing that and aligning with what our country’s vision to make India a global player in the global Aerospace & Defence market.

ExecuJet MRO Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dassault Aviation, has world-class MRO facilities in Africa, Asia, Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East where major repair and refurbishment activities are conducted. Specialising in airframe, avionics and engine maintenance; aircraft engineers are trained and certified on a wide range of aircraft, including: Dassault, Bombardier, Embraer, Gulfstream, Hawker and various others. In an Exclusive interview, Nick Weber, Regional VP, Middle East, ExecuJet MRO Services speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World on the various MRO capabilities of the ME facility, their customers and USP of being in Dubai. Excerpts… What are the services provided at the ExecuJet MRO Services Middle East? A: We provide comprehensive services across several OEM products and after being acquired by Dassault, over the last five years, we support the whole Dassault product line as well. That’s from the Falcon 8X, the 7X, the 6X now, that’s just been going into service, and the Falcon 900s and the 2000s. We also support all the Bombardier Business Aircraft right now for the 7500 through all the Global series, down to the Challenger series, the 650, 605, 604, Challenger 350, Challenger 300, and the Legacy 45 and 60. We also still support, although the numbers are dwindling within region, the 789 series Hawker aircraft. In addition, as an Embraer authorized service center, we support the Legacy, the Phenom series, Praetor series. In fact, all the Embraer business aircraft line. Additionally, up and above, we obviously are Honeywell, the Rockwell Collins, GE, and a Rolls-Royce service center and we support those engine platforms. More to do with line maintenance and engine removal refits on those product lines which enhances our offering to the general aviation community. When they bring the aircraft in, we can do the engine work, the airframe work. Over and above, we look at expanding more into avionics modifications and that’s a growing business for us. We also have the back shops, which is the battery line; wheel shop, where we do wheel overhauls and then we have the NDT line ( Non Destructive Testing), which is also a growing business for us. What are the MRO capabilities in terms of fleet maintenance & approvals of this facility? A: ExecuJet MRO Services Middle East is capable of base maintenance up to and inclusive of C-checks. So, those are the real heavy inspections. Right down through the minor inspections and obviously line and base capability on all those 4-set aircraft that I had mentioned above. We also support 18 different NAA approvals (Civil Aviation Regulators) the major ones being the local GCAA, the FAA and the Indian DGCA and in terms of capability, they’re much aligned ,so, we’re capable of C-checks across all those 18 approvals that we hold. Dubai being one of the hubs of aviation, the demand must be huge in terms of maintenance. How are you equipped and how do you manage the service for your clients? A: Well, firstly, you’ve got the installed base in the Middle East, and a large quantity or a large amount of those aircraft are actually based in Dubai. So, we’re supporting all those regional customers. But around 45% of our work is supporting visiting aircraft, aircraft transiting through Dubai and it could be even Indian operators, and they might be on their way to Europe, or we see a lot of European aircraft coming into the Middle East, and they might be on their way to Asia. So, we support a large amount of those aircraft as well. AOG is a crucial issue and how do you tackle these issues to minimise the clients timelines? A: Internally, we’ve got the teams that cover base maintenance activity, and we also have a line team that specifically focus on doing line maintenance activities. And they work 12 hours a day on site. However, they are on call 24×7. They are widely licensed, so a lot of the engineers or most of the engineers can be dispatched quite promptly to wherever the aircraft is. And we support AOG activities across, obviously across the region, but we’ll go right down to Southern Africa, Zambia, Seychelles, Maldives, Kazakhstan. So, we’re supporting a lot of aircraft throughout the region. Often, sometimes aircraft that are on ground are hindered through the registry that they might hold. So, even though OEMs might come to us, and we’ve had it in the past with the local GCA, where we’ve had to go to Reykjavik to support an aircraft. So, we’ve got extensive reach on AOG. It’s such a crucial phase of airside operations that any operators would not like to face and need a quick solution to that big issue, actually. Have you found that sometimes if you help an operator out with an AOG, that maybe because of the goodwill that’s been developed, because you help them in that difficult situation, that it’s then helped you maybe later on to get some of the heavy check work done? A: Most definitely. I think just recently there was an operator with a Falcon that was based out of Europe. They had never visited our facility. We assisted them. Subsequently, they visited us for some mining work. They are looking seriously at bringing in C-checkers later in 2025. So, that’s a good example. It’s a window for us to go out there. That’s why we see a lot of importance in obviously supporting AOG activities. We have got a dedicated team to do line maintenance, but they also support the AOG. If we haven’t got the depth within that team, then we pull personnel from the hangar floor to support their activities. Q: Do you find that being in Dubai might be a strategic advantage for you because is so well connected to different points in the world that you can get there? A: Exactly! Geographically, we’re very centrally located and, yes, we have got all the airliners as you said, supporting multiple destinations. So, it’s

Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) is India’s biggest DGCA approved MRO having Pan-India presence. The MRO caters to majority of the needs of Indian carriers as well as few foreign carriers. In an exclusive interview, Sharad Agarwal, CEO, AIESL speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World about the projects they handle, future plans looking into the growth potential, taxation and insights on building a robust MRO ecosystem in India. Sharing the excerpts… What is the current status of AIESL and type of projects you cater to and what are the plans ahead? A: AIESL is the only MRO in India which is in all four MRO segments. At present, we have been supporting Air India and other airlines for aircraft right from ATR-72, the A320s, Boeing 737, 777 and 787 and also 747. In last, as the country is getting MAX aircraft in a big way, we have enhanced our capability and today we are capable of even doing 12-year check on MAX aircraft. In future, first of all, we are concentrating on engines. We intend to doing some job on the biggest engine which is coming into India. There is an supply chain issue with engines worldwide and the pressure is much on the MRO side as well. So, how you are managing this situation? A: First of all, we cannot do any engine job without an OEM giving us a support. So OEM has to support us with the manuals, the spares, and if it is the first time we are doing a job, the training of some of the people. We are in touch and we have identified some problem areas which are a pain point for the both engine manufacturer and also the airlines. We are concentrating on supporting the OEMs to give airlines a quick turnaround time and we are very sure that we will be succeeding in that. At present, can you name some of the airlines that is under your umbrella for which maintenance AIESL does? A: In fact, within India every single major airlines, we have done some work or other. Besides that, last year there was a big news about Kuwait Airlines. We did a number of base checks on those aircraft. We are in touch with different airlines all over India, all over the world and we are keen to do it. Till about two years back, the biggest bottleneck we were having was that we were only having DGCA approval. So in the last couple of years, I have ensured that at least we get FAA approval for almost all aircraft at different locations so as to provide airlines a confidence that we stand to an international level and we have succeeded in that. So, this order book is growing. Indian Aviation is growing with so many aircraft orders are under the line. How you are prepared and further enhancing your capability to look into those upcoming works? A: First of all, see what was our pain points? Our hangars were over-booked and were over-flowing. Why? Because a lot of checks which can be done on tarmac, we had qualified them as base maintenance check. The first target was to enhance the line maintenance capability so that the jobs can be carried out on the tarmac. Once, we have achieved it, for almost every single aircraft, we have enhanced the line maintenance capabilities. Now, hangars will be there only for big checks, which are typically 6,000 hour check or higher. So none of the aircraft needs to visit the hangar before two years. This creates hangar space for us or the existing hangar space is being effectively utilized. Next, till may be three years back, we were using hangars only eight hours a day, five days a week. Atleast now, all our major hangars are working 16 hours a day, for seven days. Whenever we have a forecasted drop for the night, we are just staggering the shifts in such a way that someone is available for the night so that aircraft remains in the hangar overnight and flies away. So with this, the same hangars, the utilization has increased. With these two initiatives, I am very sure that Indian industry can handle even those 1,000 more aircraft which are coming in, in next five to ten years, with the existing hangars. Any plan for opening of new hangar in recent, down the line? A: You know that some greenfield airports are coming in and definitely we will target them. Recently the government has in fact supported the industry by waiving off the taxes. So how this is going to be helpful in the development of the sector? A: Not waiving off but rationalizing and it was a long demand from the industry. See, now what’s happening was, earlier in case we are buying the spares for an airline and we end up paying let us say 18% or 28% duty. We cannot bill the airlines for it because airlines is expecting us to take the Input credit in GST. Which, once we have paid 28% is 5% rate and for any component, see for line, for base maintenance maybe the spares was just about 10%. But when it comes to engine or component maintenance, the ratio is opposite. At least 90% is the material cost and just 10% is the labor cost. Now in case of 90% I end up paying 28% custom duty. That’s our GST. I cannot and there is no way to absorb that. This was making the entire business unbiased. This 5% on the aircraft, its components and its sub-components at least we are paying the labor. Are there any particular issues that you think that government need to address as of now? A: See one of the pain points which all MROs are facing is, especially for base maintenance.Each airlines will like it to be at an airport which is a major base for that airlines. Now there comes the

This growth phase is an indication of India becoming a hub for world-class aviation training… As the aviation industry undergoes significant transformation, the demand for skilled pilots is increasing reports indicates that India wil soon surpass the UK, becoming the third largest air passenger market globally. In this line, Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, interacted with Marijus Ravoitis, CEO, BAA Training, to discuss the company’s recent investments in expanding their infrastructure across Europe and their strategic plans for the Indian market. Excerpts… As mentioned, India is your primary sector with 50 % slots reserved for them. Till now, how many pilots have enrolled with you, and under which program? A: We have introduced an India-focused cadet training program, the Indian Cadet Program, which is specially designed to assist aspiring Indian pilots in achieving their dreams of becoming commercial pilots. This is the program that we are promoting in India because it responds to specific their home market needs. Currently, we have two batches of students enrolled in the program, which is a good indicator for the initial year. BAA Training provides both pilot cadet programs as well as type ratings. One involves individual choice while the other involves airlines’ decisions. How does your team in India maintain the sync between both segments? A: Our teams in India and Europe are interconnected and work collaboratively to ensure a smooth and efficient management process. This close cooperation allows us to tailor training experiences for individual cadets while aligning with the specific requirements of airlines for type ratings. For cadet programs, we offer training that equips students with the skills and certifications they need to meet industry standards. We guide them in making informed career choices, ensuring they are well-prepared for the diverse opportunities in aviation. For type rating courses, we partner with airlines to provide training tailored to their specific aircraft and operational needs. Our teams maintain strong communication with airline partners to ensure pilots are thoroughly trained to meet the highest standards. Additionally, with training centers across Europe, we bring the expertise and resources of our global network to India, ensuring a consistent and world-class training experience. Our integrated approach allows us to seamlessly manage cadet and type rating training, meeting the needs of both individual pilots and the airlines they serve. Two major airlines in India have their own training facilities now. Is it going to create the training sector more competitive? The presence of multiple players, including established and new entrants, is beneficial for the industry as it fosters competition, encourages innovation, and ensures access to modern technology. This growth phase is an indication of India becoming a hub for world-class aviation training, which not only meets domestic demand but also serves the international market. Tell us about the details of the BAA Training Facility in terms of its presence, number & type of aircraft for pilot training, and Type of simulators. A: Our main facilities are set up across Europe, covering the full scope of pilot training. We have both Ground School and Simulator Center in Vilnius, Lithuania, which currently houses two Airbus A320ceo, one A320ceo-neo, one Boeing 737 NG, and one B737 CL full flight simulators, as well as other flight training devices. Our Flight School, along with our second Ground School, is based at the Lleida-Alguaire International Airport, which creates an excellent setup for very realistic flight conditions because of the airport’s location. The airport is also close to other, larger ones, making it an ideal place to hone skills. We are also expanding our infrastructure there. We have bought additional 48 Cessna 172 Skyhawk aircraft, planned to be delivered by 2026, expanding our current 10 C172S’ fleet for initial flight training. We have also invested in our on-site, modern student accommodation, which is already under construction and expected to be completed in Q3 2025. Spain is also home to our Simulator Center in Barcelona. It has two A320ceo/neo and one B737 MAX full flight simulators as well as other flight training devices, and we already have infrastructure expansion plans in sight there. Next is our Paris Simulator Center in France, which has just recently expanded with a second A320neo full flight simulator, bringing the location’s simulator number to 5, along with two B737 NG and one B737-400 full flight simulators.Outside of Europe, our training center is in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, catering to the Asia-Pacific region. It currently houses an A320ceo, one A320neo, and B737 NG full flight simulators. Few globally renowned sim operators are doing big setup in India. And already three big ones have been operating for a long time. How do you see the sudden boom in this sector, which requires huge investment? A: This sudden boom in India reflects the growing demand for advanced training solutions and the increasing emphasis on safety, efficiency, and skill development in aviation. India’s aviation sector is expanding rapidly, with rising passenger traffic and a greater need for trained pilots, which, naturally, has created demand for high-quality simulation facilities. For globally-renowned simulator operators, India presents a strategic opportunity due to its developing aviation market, relatively lower operational costs, and the availability of a skilled workforce. While the sector does require significant investment, it also offers strong potential returns because of the long-term contracts and partnerships with airlines and aviation academies. As mentioned previously, the competition, at this stage of aviation industry in India, brings more benefits that challenges by encouraging innovation, and ensuring access to modern technology. Does BAA Training provide training for helicopter pilots as well as Business Aviation pilots? A: Currently, our focus is set on commercial aviation, and we mainly provide pilot training for those, who aspire to become airline pilots.

IAI’s NeuSPHERE Innovation Acceleration Program focuses on the Indian technology startup community, in particular inventive deep-tech startups focusing on big data, signal and image processing, advanced navigation systems, AI and autonomy, XR-maintenance and training, green energy, advanced production, quantum, edge computing, Human Machine Interfaces and wearable technology. It will provide the participating Indian startups access to advanced resources and technologies, including global mentorship and guidance, networking and funding, to accelerate their market-ready solutions. Dr. Avital Schrift, VP Core Tech at IAI, speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World on this big announcements and explains on all points that makes this product important. I would like to know more about the product and how it is going to be part of the Indian market? A: IAI has launched its Innovation Acceleration Program in India called as ‘NuSphere’ aiming to enhance IAI’s collaboration with the Indian local technological community. Specifically aiming at technological startups, innovative deep tech technological startups and trying together with them to scale up their capability and bring them to the next level of products. How soon this product will be into the Indian market? What’s the timeline that you have set? A: The program is already launched and the applications are open for all the Indian startups to apply. By February we are going to close the applications. We are going to have a selection committee that will select out of all the applications the three first startups to participate in our program. And those startups together with us will develop their proof of concept and later on be able to develop it and demonstrate it. So like you said, it is going to do for the startups. Who are your customers, the startups into the drone or the defense? Or, can you please focus upon the sectors that you are targeting? A: We are focusing on 10 specific technological areas. The main of which are image processing, AI, big data, autonomous navigation. There are 10 quantum computing, edge computing. Those are two important areas. Essentially, we are looking on those really deep tech technologies that can make an impact on our products. So we want to take the technology that was born in India and integrate it into our products to be sold again to India and across the globe. IAI is a very good partner for the Ministry of Defense and there are many avenues that both the countries are exploring in India. Is this program or software is also a part of making India concept or something like that? A: This is another step in the making India concept taking it to the next level because making India can be interpreted as just taking our own design and doing it in India. Here we are looking for an Indian invention. Something that was already created from the first in India, taking the Indian knowledge and capabilities and integrating it into our products. As far as the incubation center is concerned, where is it located? A: It’s a virtual concept. So right now we have Greenhouse Ventures company that will help us in running the program. They are located here in Delhi. The meetings when we need to will be made either virtually or in Delhi. The demo day, the pitch events, all the events will be in Delhi but the program as a whole will be run virtually.So the startups can remain where they are. They don’t need to come to Delhi. India is very big and we are reaching everywhere in India.So we didn’t want to force the startups to come to Delhi. They can remain wherever they are. So it is also going to add some employment opportunity into India with this program? A: Once those startups will create their concept together with us and be selected to move to the next step of doing a POC, yes, of course, we want to translate their idea into a product that will be sold worldwide. So, of course, those startups will be able to grow. In fact, during the presentation, you are going to hear our first example of an Indian startup named BosonQ dealing with quantum computing that we have already started to work with. And for the time being, we were able to secure to this startup almost five million US dollars of investments, foreign investments.So it’s a big deal and they can sort of testify to the benefits that they had from cooperating with IAI. In the long term, how is it going to synergize the IAI presence into the Indian market with this product? A: That’s an amazing idea. We are going to take Indian-made technology and translate it into IAI products that will be sold worldwide. So we are going to take the ideas, scale them up, and take them to the next level of being able to translate an idea to a product and to a system. This is what IAI does. We specialize in systems of systems. So we are going to take this very small idea and help it grow, develop, and essentially it’s going to remain an Indian idea. Any specific point that you want to highlight as a USP of this particular product? A: We believe very much in working with the Indian startup community.We chose specifically India to be the second country to which we will go globally. The first was USA, India is the second because we believe in the Indian technological community.We want to contribute to it, and we are going to benefit from it as well.

Royal Jordanian is a truly boutique airline with some special soft touch points “ In line with the “Explore Jordan” program, Royal Jordanian has announced the launch of direct flights between its national capital Amman to Mumbai and Delhi this year. The Mumbai route will operate with four weekly flights starting on April 17, 2025, and the Delhi route will commence with four weekly flights starting on September 17, 2025. These new routes align with Royal Jordanian’s growth and expansion strategy, focusing on positioning Jordan as a premier tourism destination for the Indian market and enhancing connectivity to over 45 global destinations. At an event in Delhi, Karim Makhlouf, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Jordanian Airlines, in an interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World adds on more on the plans ahead. Excerpts… Tell us about your journey with Royal Jordanian? A: When I joined Royal Jordanian four years ago, we started to change the way we do business. Our new strategy is a bit different to other airlines and is focused primarily on tourism into Jordan because I can tell you clearly that Jordan is a cool destination and it’s very difficult for other destinations to compete with Jordan. While as an airline of course it’s not so easy to compete with everyone, so that’s why tourism into Jordan is it and that’s our new prime focus is to increase the awareness of Jordan which is still relatively niche and urgent is a fundamental new strategy for Royal Jordanian Airlines. What’s the strategy and offer you have for tourists? A: We are a 61-year-old airline and we are one of the pioneer airlines in the Gulf and Middle East way before Emirates and Etihad and so on were founded. So one can imagine the change in this strategy was not that easy from a corporate culture level but as an aviation passionate and aviation expert, I strongly believe that this is our only chance to survive. The second strategy and pillar is to develop Amman, the capital of Jordan, not just as the hub for Jordan but for the Levant. Levant is an area in the Middle East which we call Levant with the surrounding countries of Jordan where you have Syria, Iraq, Palestine, you have even Cyprus. These are markets which lack obviously strong national carriers and here we want to make a difference and position ourselves in this niche which has 140 million population is a very strong hub. So tourism in combination with the Levant strategy will be the fundamental success for growth. This growth is really big for a small country like Jordan so we are planning to double the number of our passengers from three million passengers which we used to have before COVID to 7.1 million passengers by 2027-28. Two million out of these tourists and hopefully a lot from India and we will as well doubling our fleet to 43 aircraft.We used to have 23 aircraft and we’ll have 43 aircraft by 2027 and as of March we are receiving 20 brand new jets until 2026 mainly the A320neo and the 787-8. What’s the USP of Royal Jordanian Airlines? A: Now for a country like Jordan tourism and Royal Jordanian is a very important driver of the GDP. So only Royal Jordanian makes about 5% of the GDP and tourism and as such makes around 20% so you can imagine that the success of Royal Jordanian and of tourism will as well help the country to progress and develop further. I would say that we are a boutique airline, so we have a very nice product. I’m trying to have a contemporary modern truly Arabian flavor in our product because we are not targeting global to global connectors like other carriers in the region. We are really focused on becoming a truly boutique airline with some special soft touch points. But our hardware our product will be state of the art. We will have a brand new A320neo business class seats and even the economy seats will be with in-flight entertainment on every seat and with wi-fi on board. Of course we have a meal service and all the other stuff which is needed for a nice experience. On our brand new 787-9 we will have a new suite as such starting as of December this year and we are using this aircraft right now mainly to the US where we have five destinations in North America. But of course India could be as well a target for the 787 if we successfully develop our tourism strategy as such. These are impressions from our lounge from our product. How conveniently located is Amman Airport and which all country it connects with? A: Amman is a very convenient airport as it’s not too big. It’s easy especially for point-to-point travelers so boutique airline as such. I’m promoting the tourism strategy globally since three four years as I joined the airline and we opened a lot of new destinations. In the last couple of years, 15 brand new destinations are opened , be it in Europe, Manchester, London Stansted, Brussels, Stockholm, Milan, Berlin all for tourism . How much impact is on Jordan due to disturbed neighboring countries? A: Our priority is tourism into Jordan and the awareness of Jordan globally is relatively low and that’s why the strategy started to work very well until the geopolitical situation happened but this is just an interruption and we strongly believe that tourism will come back very strong this year once the situation gets a bit quiet but talking about politics Jordan was is and will always be like the Switzerland of the Middle East we were never involved in any of these conflicts. Jordan is even a safe heaven for a lot of Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians, so it’s a very-very safe place and as a German, I can tell you Jordan is even sometimes perceived safer than Germany. So this is something which

As global air traffic demand exceeds pre-pandemic levels in 2024, airlines are turning their attention to fleet expansion, according to a new report from Alton Aviation Consultancy. Despite record profits, operators need to consider short-and long-term strategies to overcome production issues and secure additional capacity. The global aviation advisory firm in its independent 2024-2034 Commercial Aircraft Fleet Forecast, offers detailed insight into current market conditions, alongside a 10-year forecast of air traffic demand and the active fleet. Alton’s projections indicate the fleet should increase from 31,000 aircraft in operation today to 41,100 by 2034, marking an annual growth rate of 2.8%. In this exclusive interview, Joshua Ng, Director, Alton Aviation Consultancy, Singapore, speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World about the current industry scenario, future demand and strategies to streamline the exponential growth pattern. Excerpts: AW: Looking into the aircraft orders in this region, how do you evaluate the growth of MRO sector? JN: The growth of MRO will follow in tandem with the growth of the current fleet, which we expect will increase from 31,200 aircraft today to 41,100 aircraft by 2034, growing at 2.8% annually. This growth reflects both regional expansion and recovery in air travel demand. AW: How the supply chain issue is going to be resolved and what is the expected timeline? JN: OEMs continue to face supply chain issues as they struggle to ramp up production in the post-COVID environment and restore capacity in their supply chain. In a recent survey at MRO APAC, MRO executives were largely of the view that some suppliers have recovered, but there are other suppliers who still have major issues. Geopolitical tensions, compounded with shortage of raw materials and key components imply that OEM issues with cross-border trade and logistics will further delay deliveries in the near-term. This in turn forces operators to use older aircrafts longer and requiring more MRO activities to maintain airworthiness. Resolving the supply chain issues will require a combination of strategies, such as diversifying suppliers, investing in local manufacturing capabilities, and adopting data analytics capabilities to better manage inventory and forecast demand. While some mitigating efforts is expected to yield improvements within the next 12-18 months, full recovery may take longer as it depends on global stability and continued investment in supply chain resilience. AW: Shortage of skilled manpower is another big challenge globally. How airlines are coping up with this massive issue? JN: The post-pandemic labour environment presents structural challenges to companies and their recruitment and retention efforts. Workers increasingly prefer an environment with “work from home” possibilities, and are more open to “gig employment” as a stable source of income. To cope with labour constraints, airlines and MROs will need to make upskilling and talent retention their priority in order to do more with less. They will need to develop better training programs to upskill their workforce, redesign job processes to balance worker preferences against job activities, and invest in technologies that can raise labour productivity. Modern technologies such as drone inspections can augment labour capability while others such as using augmented realities to enable remote technician support will raise labour productivity. Such efforts to upskill the workforce and utilize of technologies will help airlines and MROs better cope operationally. AW: What steps according to you are required to be implemented for the growth of MRO sector across the region? JN: For the MRO sector to enjoy sustainable growth, further investment in technological innovation and digitalization will be key. Implementing data-driven maintenance practices, such as predictive maintenance and digital twin technology, can improve operational efficiency and reduce downtime. Additionally, creating regional partnerships and pooling resources for specialized skill development would better address both infrastructural and manpower shortages, whilst supporting ongoing innovation across the sector. About Joshua Ng, Director, Alton Aviation Consultancy, Singapore: Based in Alton’s Singapore office, Joshua Ng brings 15 years of experience in the aviation and aerospace industry. He co-leads the firm’s technology and mobility practice and supports the firm’s Asia Pacific aviation advisory engagements across the aviation value chain from airlines, to MROs, to industry investors. Joshua combines his significant expertise in business strategy development, market demand forecasting, operating model development, and financial modeling to help clients with developing and implementing their go-to-market strategies and long-term business plans. He has also worked in the transaction advisory space, helping investors and strategic clients with mergers, acquisitions and divestments of enterprises, infrastructure and assets, as well as on topics including transaction management, valuation, post-merger integration, and carve-out.

Air Astana operates daily direct flight from Delhi (India) to Almaty( Kazakhstan) making it the preferred airlines of the Indians. India, being one of the key market for Air Astana, the Visa free access to the Indians has significantly boosted up the tourism and business for Kazakhstan. In an exclusive interview,Mr. Peter Foster, CEO, Air Astana shares details about on the various developments of the airlines and its future plans with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World Excerpts… What is your strategy to enhance Air Astana presence in the Indian market? There are certain things that I can’t unfortunately disclose because of the constraints that I’ve got over me. As you know, as the Accountable Manager for a UK listed company, there are certain things that I can’t say. So, I can’t talk specifically about our plans for working here until such time as I’m talking on a general basis to the market. But what I can say is this, the Indian market is fundamentally important to us. It’s a growth market and we’ve been in Delhi for many years. We’ve expanded our operation into and out of Delhi over the years. Before the pandemic, we were right on the point of launching flights to Mumbai. That didn’t happen because of the pandemic but I think, we can be sufficiently clear that India is a key strategic priority for Air Astana. After the exemption of the visa for the Indians by Kazakhstan, have you witnessed the growth in number of travellers? Huge! Mostly the group travellers. Groups, individuals, families from all over India are now visiting Almaty & Astana which is great sign. You mentioned about the direct flight for London with the modification of the aircraft. How important is the sector for Air Astana? It’s an important route for us. I mean, there’s a lot of business links between the UK and Kazakhstan. There’s a lot of Kazakh students that study in the UK, a lot of Kazakh school children that are at school in the UK. The links have always been strong. And obviously, the company is quoted on the London stock market. But there’s a lot of business traffic, generally speaking, the services sector that comes from London to Kazakhstan. So, all of the big four are all heavily represented here, of course, a lot of many of the investment banks do work in Kazakhstan. The Astana Financial Centre has been set up on the basis of the UK commercial law. So, the Court of Final Appeal are all UK judges. So, the links are strong between the UK and Kazakhstan. What is the current ownership and shareholding structure of Air Astana? On 9th February 2024, all the changes in the listing were completed. It was done around six to eight months ago. So, now it’s now 41% owned by Samruk Kazyna ( they’ve gone from 51% to 41%) , BAE went from 49% to 18%.Now, we have new share holders. We have the National Pension Fund here with 6.5%,we have the EBRD ( European Bank of Reconstruction Development) at 5%, we have a lot of not only investors out of London and we have a lot of retail investors here in Kazakhstan. And we have ourselves, of course, the staffs also have shares. So, the process is completed and now it’s a listed company in London Stock Exchange, Astana Stock Exchange and the Almaty Stock Exchange. In Kazakhstan, there are two stock exchanges, one in Almaty and the other one in Astana. So, we have listed on all three exchanges. What regulatory approvals are required to modify the aircraft for operating between London and Astana? Well remember, this modification is an Airbus modification. So, it’s an Airbus modification, of course, it has to have all general global approvals. What type of fleets does Air Astana operates at present? Could you share details about the fleet expansion plans? At present Air Astana have 57 aircrafts which is a mixed of Airbus and also 2-3 Embraer. The Embraer are leaving the fleet shortly. So, right now it’s Airbus. We have three Boeing 767s also and in fact, we have the newest passenger 767s in the world. We have the last three that came off the production line which are very good aircraft. As part of our expansion plans, our fleet size will go up to 80 aircraft by the end of 2028. We’re not going to change the entire fleet between now and then. Yes, and to answer your question, the average age of the fleet at the moment is five years old. So, the fleet is a young fleet. And by the end of 2028, I think it’ll be slightly less than that, about four and a half years old. That’s good. So, apart from the existing market, can you focus on the top three markets that definitely are your top priority markets right now? Well, of course the Kazakhstan market is the number one. But in terms of our foreign markets, I won’t give you a rank, but I’ll just tell you what our key markets are Korea, India, the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. Turkey is a key market for us and the German market of course, is very important to us. How Air Astana is managing it fleets in terms of maintenance as globally airlines are raining this issue? The global issue is not correct and we should try to get our aircrafts corrected at our own because problems are there. It’s an issue, but it’s not global. Every airline is having that kind of issue. In terms of Air Astana it does affect us like it affects everybody. The main problem that we’ve got is specific to the Pratt & Whitney 1100 engine on the Airbus 320neo family, which, as you’ll be aware, is a problem with Indian carrier too. We are trying to mitigate it by getting more engines from Pratt & Whitney. We have nine spare engines now and we have