DELHI: State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is exploring possibilities to foray into commercial leasing of its Dornier aircraft and Air India could be its first customer, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said.
The defence PSU is already making the 19-seater Dornier 228 planes under licence from Swiss technology company RUAG for the armed forces and the European market, reports The Economic Times.
“HAL has agreed for supplying their Dornier aircraft for the civil aviation purposes. HAL is also exploring the possibility of leasing the aircraft to airline companies,” he said on the sidelines of an aviation conference here.
“The HAL wants to lease Dornier aircraft because it recognises that if it gets into the leasing part, then the market will be much bigger. Their board has not yet decided but they are exploring this possibility,” he said.
HAL’s 19-seater Dornier 228 could be useful for civil operations with certain modifications.
Choubey said tha HAL will now not only manufacture these planes for “civilian operations” but also provide end-to-end services as well such as maintenance, repair and overhaul of the fleet, simulator training, among others.
