Haryana's Hisar to Host India's First Private Trainer Aircraft Facility by Year-End

By 2025, this project is an alliance between the Sri Sakthi Group from Tamil Nadu and Austria-based Diamond Aircraft Industries. The joint venture, Sakthi Aircraft Industry, propounds a final assembly line to manufacture the DA40 NG trainer planes from Diamond for flying schools in India.

On Tuesday, the Sakthi Aircraft Industry had an MoU with the Aero Club of India of 200 DA40 NG aircraft for registered flying training organizations. The first 50 aircraft will be imported as complete knocked-down (CKD) units from Diamond's facilities in Austria and Canada and assembled in India. The remaining 150 aircraft will be produced at the Hisar facility.

The company aims to kick off work by late 2025 and turn out about 100 of the aircraft a year to meet the widening demand from the flying schools in the country. With increased local sourcing, Sakthi Aircraft Industry proposes that 60-70% of the components will be sourced locally within five years. It will work with domestic suppliers who are currently supplying various major players in the aerospace market, like Airbus and Boeing.

The JV expects the delivery of the 200 aircraft to be completed by 2027. While details of the contract value continue to remain under the wraps, a DA40 NG aircraft is priced at around $600,000 on the market.

The Indian aviation sector is seeing 30,000 pilots being added over the next 15-20 years. Today, there are just about 6,000-7,000 in the country. The collaboration between the Aero Club of India and Sakthi Aircraft Industry is expected to give training to 1,000 commercial pilots annually and 10,000 pilots in the next decade, thereby augmenting aviation training in India.