NAL begins talks with domestic airlines for its proposed aircraft

Months after the National Aerospace Laboratories announced its plan to develop an indigenous 70-seater aircraft...

Months after the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) announced its plan to develop an indigenous 70-seater aircraft to replace the ageing ATR 72, it has begun talks with low cost airlines and regional carriers and even approached the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for certification issues. Best known for developing the 14-seater aircraft ‘Saras’, NAL — a CSIR laboratory based in Bangalore — is hopeful of finding market for around 7,000 aircraft across the world.

“We are talking to regional airlines on the issue. We had one round of discussions with SpiceJet and talks with Air Deccan are also in the offing. We are basically targeting low cost airlines and tourist and pilgrim centre destinations having airfields that are not of the best of standards.

The aircraft we are going to develop with new generation avionics technology will be able to touch down at ill developed airfields with precision even without the assistance of Air Traffic Controllers, Instrument Landing System (ILS) and a radar system. Preliminary discussions with DGCA and with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have started”, A R Upadhyaya, Director, NAL told The Indian Express.

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The NAL’s project, submitted as a proposal under the 11th plan, is targeted far beyond Indian carriers. “We are looking at a really big market and not merely India. Our estimates show that there will be a demand for 6,000-7,000 70-seater class aircraft the world over until 2025. With the ATR 72 getting old and maintenance costs rising, it will soon need to be replaced and we plan to fill in the vacuum. Indian carriers like Kingfisher, Air Deccan, Jet Airways and Indian Airlines have a sizable fleet of ATRs but it’s time for new technology. We want to join hands with aircraft manufactures and developers and are already approaching big names in the industry like Bombardier and Pratt & Whitney”, said Kota Harinarayana, former Director, NAL, who also headed the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) project.

In fact, NAL wants activation of some 200 airfields in the country. Currently, of the existing 450 airfields, only 60 are operational and have upgraded infrastructure.

NAL hopes to employ new generation aerodynamics to create a largely “weather resistant aircraft” that will be able to land and take off from unsophisticated and small airfields, cut down fuel consumption as well as costs and reduce emissions and noise. The system, says NAL, can work perfectly for short-haul air travel.

“We are also going to incorporate a number of value-added features to the existing ATR fleet with additional safety system to handle a non-ILS and non-ATC environment, an aircraft health management system to warn crew before any actual failure and several other preventive systems”, said Kota.