A ‘Scorpio' for the Sky

After ruling the tractor and the four wheeler market in India, Mahindra is now ready to take the aerospace by storm with its whole gamut of offerings starting from parts manufacturing to MRO services to aircraft making.

- C. H. Unnikrishnan

NO ONE SAW IT COMING. Mahindra’s rise in the Indian automobile market was unexpected and quite. It was inconceivable that a tractor and farm equipment maker could replace Indian auto heavyweight and long-time market leader Tata Motors. But it did, and how. Mahindra’s Scorpio, one of the most successful sports utility vehicle (SUV) brands in the country, and its several other variants ruled the Indian roads for the longest time, and are still in great demand.

Now the company is all set to do a ‘Scorpio’ in the Indian sky. If all goes well, Mahindra will launch its Airvan-10, a ten-seater turboprop plane, all over the world including India, by the second half of this year. This utility aircraft, designed, developed and assembled fully in-house, is just awaiting certification from the civil aviation regulator. Currently manufactured in the company’s Australian unit, it has almost finished its approval process by the Australian authority, and is expected to receive its US licence by June. That should expedite the process in India as quality standards for aviation sector are universal.

Airvan-10, however, is just one of the aces up Mahindra’s sleeve. The big game is a true integrated play. The group has built an entire value chain in the aerospace industry, including the original equipment manufacturing (OEM) business for global aviation majors, MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) for the whole aviation industry, and simulator training for pilots among others.