Cessna expects rising demand in India after government reforms

Cessna Aircraft Company has said that the company foresees rising demand for its Caravan and Citation aircraft in India this year as customers respond to anticipated government reforms.

Speaking at the Aero India show in Bangalore, Bill Harris, Cessna vice president, Sales for Asia and Asia Pacific, said: “India is expected to be amongst the world’s fastest growing economies in 2013 and stands to benefit hugely from a national expansion of business aviation, both for domestic and international travel. Cessna is optimistic that legislative and regulatory reforms this year will remove several barriers to India’s aircraft market development. With its unrivalled breadth of aircraft, we believe Cessna is superbly positioned to meet the country’s pent up customer demand.”

The company believes that the Caravan is ideally suited for the Indian market, being used on commuter routes and utility missions in demanding conditions.

Harris said “One of India’s pressing needs is to improve its intra-state air links and the Caravan is vastly capable in this respect. Whether operated as a passenger or cargo aircraft, the Caravan can cope with the most demanding terrain and is perfectly suited to the extremes of Indian weather. With the launch of the high-power Grand Caravan EX this year, Cessna is better placed than ever to offer tough aircraft that keep going under the harshest conditions.”

Cessna sees India as a country where business jets will play an more important role in the coming months.

“India is a global force in business, with leadership positions in markets such as information technology, auto manufacturing and finance. To manage their operations domestically and internationally, Indian business leaders need the time savings offered by business jets but do not necessarily always want or need a long-range aircraft. Aircraft such as Cessna’s Citation Mustang, CJ2+, XLS+ and Sovereign offer an exceptional blend of performance, dependability and value and are seeing increasing interest from Indian customers, particularly from charter operators scaling up to serve corporate and leisure demand,” Harris said.

To better serve the Indian market, Cessna has recently appointed dedicated in-country sales managers for propeller and Citation aircraft. Cessna is displaying a Citation Mustang business jet at Aero India.