New Delhi: With flight operations being impacted due to a scarcity of spare parts amid global supply chain challenges, Indian airlines are turning to local suppliers for non-critical aircraft components, industry insiders said.
According to executives at Air India and IndiGo, the trend prevalent in the US, is being adopted by the Indian aviation sector, as it promises cost and time benefits for the carriers.
The substantial orders placed by Indian airlines for planes would not only lead to a sizable fleet, but will enable domestic carriers negotiate favourable terms with lessors for leasing aircraft and the use of local non-critical parts, which will save over 40% cost. The availability time for some parts will also reduce from six months to under 30 days, industry executives said at the Aero MRO India 2023 event in New Delhi.
“I had to import paper used for printers in an aircraft … Why can’t I use local paper? Even the stickers on table or toilet buffers or soap dispenser bottles… These are small things we are looking at. If it is not a critical part, it should be acceptable. In certain leases, I made it a point to write it down that non-critical parts should be accepted. We are in the process of getting approvals,” Sisira Kanta Dash, Air India’s chief technical officer, said. In aviation parlance, non-critical parts of an aircraft are covered under Part 21 of the Parts Manufacturer Approval, which mandates compliance for sourcing product, appliances and parts with applicable designs via authorized entities.
IndiGo has also started a process to seek approvals from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for buying non-critical, non-structural items two years ago, and used indigenous such parts for its aircraft. “It is the way forward. Acceptability is coming. A few years ago we started the project at IndiGo to identify non-critical items like paper, or non-critical, non-load carrying items for cabins. We now have in-house capability to make a part and use it on our aircraft,” Parichay Datta, vice president and deputy head of engineering, IndiGo, said.
The largest airline is a witness to several instances whereby the airline had to wait for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to send small parts while the galleys and seats were made.
“We did not see any resistance from the regulator. In fact, they were very forthcoming to give us approvals. We started with some parts, we will carry on many more non-structural non-critical items within the cabin,” Datta added.
The approach for third-party or in-house production of non-critical parts is also helpful for airlines which are using older aircraft, and the small parts are no longer available in the market or are in short supply, executives added. In view of the rising demand for these parts, the Indian maintenance, repair and overhaul industry is also preparing to build capacity for the same.
“The association is ready to pursue to build the small parts which are acceptable to the Indian airlines industry, but we will need clarity from the airlines in what is acceptable in the initial phases of design and production itself,” Bharat Malkani, President, MRO Association of India said.
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Updated: 21 Nov 2023, 11:07 PM IST