HYDERABAD: Airbus is looking to expand its base in Hyderabad and is keen on working in the areas of mentoring start-ups, urban air mobility and defence sector, said Airbus India and South Asia president and MD Anand Stanley.
At present, Airbus is working in collaboration with Infosys and the Tata Group in Hyderabad, employing around 150 people as compared to its large presence in Bengaluru, where it employees about 4,500 of its more than 7,000 employees in India. Stanley was speaking at Wings India-2020 being organised in the city by FICCI, Ministry of Civil Aviation and AAI.
When asked about the Airbus’ plans in Hyderabad, Stanley said the company has been involved in a small amount of component manufacturing in collaboration with the Tata Group and in the tech and design aspect with Infosys.
Stanley, a native of Hyderabad, said Airbus has been looking at multiple opportunities and has been in talks with the Government of Telangana.He said the company has been looking to work with startups in Hyderabad. In Bengaluru, Airbus mentored over 2,000 start-ups and developed around 20 start-ups.
Besides, he also said as Hyderabad is major city, areas like urban air mobility, air taxis and heli-taxis are of interest, apart from exploiting the large scope in defence manufacturing. Airbus would also look to work for ‘Innovate in India’ and ‘Skill India’ programmes.
Regarding issues that have cropped up in Airbus aircraft having Pratt and Whitney engines, Stanley said of the 300 such aircrafts in the nation, over 200 have been upgraded and the work has been on to achieve Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) deadline of May 31.
He added, “There has not been any issue of violation of safety. We have been disappointed there have been operational reliability issues with one particular engine manufacturer. These are not safety issues.”