The Aerospace Sector in Karnataka abou

nds with examples of PPP. By providing for the country’s first aerospace SEZ, the government has shown its clear intent in supporting the growth of this industry in the state.

While there are a slew of success stories in the aerospace sector in Karnataka, the most striking example is that of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., which began operations as a private company in 1940 as Hindustan Aircraft Limited in Bangalore. With a string of achievements to its credit, the company which has been supplying for Boeing successfully since 1991, is set to produce flaperons for Boeing’s 777 series of commercial jetliners. This represents a significant leap forward in technological capability – the 777 flaperon is a highly complex composite assembly, referred to a ‘control surface’ working both as an aileron to control roll and as a flap to control lift. With a JV announced with Rolls Royce in January 2010, the company has taken another step forward. HAL supplies components to several global engine companies and has nine JVs – six of them formed in the past three years – with companies such as Canada’s aircraft simulator maker CAE Inc., Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd and Safran unit Snecma SA.

Another global major Airbus SAS is set to move 20% of its engineering design activities to low cost countries, most of it to India, to be better able to compete with its main rival, Boeing Co. Currently, it has located its 120 people engineering centre in Bangalore, which will be expanded to more than 400 employees by 2012. It outsources work to around 20 Indian IT and engineering service providers including Infosys Technologies Ltd., Quest, HCK Technologies etc . Its Bangalore engineering centre is the only one outside Europe that does what is called `non-specific work’. These are works that are not specific to an aircraft part, but involve issues related to aerodynamics, aerothermics (temperature, ventilation), aeroelastics (effect on structure, such as vibration etc), and simulation of flight management, developed new tools to create better aircraft and speed up aircraft development.

Interestingly, in 2005, Airbus’s top supplier auto engine maker Snecma SA set up a subsidiary in collaboration with HAL in Bangalore.

QuEST Global that has set up the country’s first aerospace SEZ in Belgaum in November 2009 is in fact a prime example of the fast track that industry works at and achieves in the state. The Belgaum SEZ is expected to yield aerospace-related business worth around Rs 2,500 crore in 10 years and could be the next big bet in this sector outside Bangalore. The SEZ is expecte to create more than 7,000 jobs for local talent and infuse $ 500 million (in)to the economy in ten years. Belgaum has many location advantages: hundreds of foundries and low-cost engineering talent, well-connected with Bangalore, Hyderabad, coastal Mumbai and Goa, and is already a source for auto components for the auto industry in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. Quest, a company begun by two engineering graduates from Karnataka, is in the supply chain for Airbus A80 and A350 that is due in 2013; provides landing gear shackles for Boeing 777, 787 and 737 aircraft programmes through its partner, Magellan — a Boeing and Airbus supplier. EADS, Rolls-Royce, GE Aviation, Toshiba and UTC are among its clients. In November 2009, it entered into a contract with Airbus vendor SABCA of Belgium to supply flap track mechanism metallic parts from out of the SEZ for the prestigious A350 programme.

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