Toulouse (France): US President Donald Trump’s shadow seemed to loom large at Airbus’ summit on sustainable aviation at Toulouse this week as prominent stakeholders gathered to discuss the progress and roadmap to decarbonise aviation by 2050.
What if America’s tariff warrior chooses to target the aviation sector, risking retaliation from Europe? The consensus was that it will damage the US more, but aerospace industry captains were circumspect. “We have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.
It was also the time for a reality check for Airbus’ ambitious hydrogen plane mission. Faury said his company can make a hydrogen-powered plane that works but it’s not the right time for it due to commercial non-viability and absence of the right ecosystem.
That leaves sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as the biggest hope to achieve the 2050 net-zero target and that’s where India held so much interest of the global aerospace industry at the Airbus Summit 2025, given its abundance of agricultural residues, ethanol, biomass, non-edible oil, municipal wastes, et al.
As against the global production of 2 million tonnes of SAF in 2024, India is estimated to have the potential to produce 8-10 million tonnes of SAF annually. Just think of how farmers in Punjab and Haryana, who have been burning stubbles and polluting the air, become stakeholders in SAF production.
“You can use this feedstock (for SAF) and also control pollution,” said Gabrielle Walker, co-founder of CUR8, a leading market-maker on carbon removals.
Jimmy Samartzis, CEO, LanzaJet, a sustainable aviation fuel producer and alternative fuels technology company, spoke about how there was high interest in building a self-production facility and how his company is working with India on this.
LanzaJet is reportedly negotiating with Indian Oil Corporation for a joint venture to build an SAF plant in India.
Julie Kitcher, Chief Sustainability Officer at Airbus, said that what is happening in India and China in terms of sustainable fuel should not be underestimated.
“We are going from jet fuel to SAF. There is a unique opportunity for India to contribute to the growth of aviation and decarbonisation,” Faury told ThePrint. Airbus has been in touch with SAF stakeholders in India.
“We want to play catalyst to help grow the SAF ecosystem in volumes and also on manufacturers, regulators, airlines to pool the use of SAF. That’s a collaborative effort that needs to be done. India has a lot of potential for SAF and we are hoping that India will be showing the way and leading on the growth of SAF,” said Faury.
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Airbus’ India strategy
But the discussions on SAF potential are only a small part of why Airbus, Europe’s biggest aerospace company, is betting so much on India.
Its CEO is expecting procurement of components and services from India to grow by about 50 percent in the next five years: from $1.4 billion today to $2 billion by 2030. That means a four-fold increase in Airbus’ procurement spending in India in a decade, up from $500 million in 2019.
It’s not just about the sourcing volumes, though.
The French company is now sourcing complex components from India, such as A320neo cargo doors (Tata), A320/A330 flap track beams (Dynamatic) and A220 doors (Dynamatic). In the last four years, the number of engineers hired by Airbus in India has more than trebled, from 1,000 in 2021 to over 3,500 today.
“India is not only a market for aviation. It’s also supplying to the world, to Airbus—many parts, systems, equipment, and that’s growing very fast. India is very strong in software, in equipment manufacturing, IT and engineering. That’s where there is really appetite from outside to collaborate,” the Airbus CEO told ThePrint.
Explaining the importance of India in the Airbus’ scheme of things, company officials said they don’t see India as a market only. The company is developing a holistic aviation and aerospace ecosystem in India across all dimensions—assembly, manufacturing, engineering, innovation, digital, training, education, maintenance and leasing, they said.
Airbus has already set up two final assembly lines in India, for C295 aircraft and H125 choppers. It has also started two pilot training centres with a capacity of 14 full flight simulators in India.
It is also partnering with the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) and Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya, with Tata Strive for academic curricula, developing R&D centres, creating Aerospace Chairs at universities, investing into skill centres and offering scholarships.
‘Make in India’, ‘Design in India’, ‘Innovate in India’ and ‘Train in India’ is said to be the guiding Indian strategy for Airbus, which has built its South Asia headquarters and a pilot training centre in New Delhi. It has also announced a joint venture with the Tata Group to set up a second pilot training centre in Gurgaon, which will have 10 simulators.
Faury said Indian companies were scouting in Europe, looking at potential targets for M&A and trying to extend their footprint. There are opportunities in Europe.
“Therefore, I like the idea of the best Indian players going from India to the world. That’s what we see and we are encouraging. I am putting them in touch with the chairman of GIFAS, French aerospace and defence association… I have put some of them in touch with GIFAS in charge of SMEs,” said Faury.
The Airbus CEO, as head of GFAS, had visited India last October.
“We had 60 companies joining and creating contacts in India with Indian partners, suppliers, customers. India in integrating itself in the global aerospace industry,” said Faury.
ThePrint is in France on Airbus’s invitation
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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