Eurocopter India, a subsidiary of Eurocopter,
will continue expansion of existing Indian markets
with the largest range of helicopters, the company
says.
Xavier Hay, chief executive officer, Eurocopter
India, told reporters on the eve of India Aviation
2012, that the company would be working to develop
new markets including emergency services like
medical evacuation and fire fighting.
Eurocopter, which is the world leader in emergency
medical services, has designed the EC135 and EC145
for Helicopter Medical Emergency Service (HEMS)
and Disaster Management (DM) applications.
The firm has already started work with Indian
companies, institutions and hospitals. However,
it wants India to relax regulations for this market
to take off. Under the existing rules, an operator
has to take flight permission 48 hours in advance.
It is also looking at freight, news gathering
and construction in the utility market and police,
customs, border patrol in law enforcement market
and search and rescue market.
"There is huge potential for growth considering
the fact that the civil helicopter fleets is just
260-strong against 6,857 in North America and
5,153 in Europe," said Hay.
Eurocopter currently has 29 customers in India
operating 80 helicopters in the civilian market.
Its market share in the civilian sector increased
from 41 percent in 2010 to 65 percent in 2011.
It delivered its 1,000th Dauphin helicopter to
Pawan Hans Pvt Ltd in June 2011. Pawan Hans has
35 Dauphin in its fleet, making it the world's
biggest civil operator of the Dauphin.
During 2011, Eurocopter India delivered nine
helicopters of the 14 registered last year. Of
these, five were twin-engined and the remaining
four single-engined.
(IANS)
|