India's 90-seat RTA Project Expected to Take Flight as Aviation Minister Prepares Funding Proposal to Finance Ministry

India's ambitious plan to develop a domestically-produced regional transport aircraft (RTA) is gaining momentum as Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu prepares to present a funding proposal to the Finance Ministry.

This 90-seat turboprop aircraft, a joint effort by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), aims to bolster India's domestic aviation manufacturing capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign aircraft manufacturers like ATR.

The project has garnered significant support from both HAL and NAL, with NAL seeking approximately $2 billion in development costs. This funding would cover the creation of pre-production aircraft crucial for extensive flight testing and certification before full-scale production can commence.

Minister Naidu's proposal is a key step in securing initial government approval and subsequent funding, which is anticipated following the completion of the critical design review (CDR), a major milestone in the RTA program.

The RTA is poised to play a vital role in meeting the burgeoning demand for regional air travel in India, particularly in underserved and remote areas. It aligns with the government's UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, which focuses on making air travel accessible to a wider population.

The 90-seat capacity is ideal for short-haul routes between smaller cities, often neglected by larger jet aircraft, and the aircraft will be designed for optimal performance on shorter runways and in less-developed airports.

Adding to the project's potential, several private sector companies with proven experience in manufacturing fuselage components for global giants like Airbus and Boeing have expressed strong interest in joining the RTA program. This collaboration is expected to inject further innovation, accelerate development, and enhance the RTA's competitiveness in the global market.

Beyond meeting domestic needs, the RTA project carries strategic importance for India's broader aerospace ambitions. Successfully developing and manufacturing this aircraft will place India among a select group of nations capable of such a feat. It also opens potential export opportunities, positioning India as a key player in the growing global turboprop market.

 

[kurtwallis wallis]

FIRSTLY, deliver Tejas MK1A and MK2 to IAF in decent nos. every year and then take on new projects after 100% completion of current programs....

 

[abhinav srivastava]

That's a good thought. Also, incentivize pvt cos to produce 200+ seater civilan and cargo planes.

 

[Radha Ramanan]

first how about the making the saras operational. For the last 30 years that small plane has been going around, crashing in one instance killing the test crew.. Then redisigned, and now it seems they are making it bigger with MK2 verison. What tom fooleery is going on. NAL stop wasting tax payers money to keep yourself occupied. The SARAS was designed by russia Myasishchev aircraft design company, and not NAL, as at that time we had zero design experience. Now they think that they can design world class civilian aircraft? civilian aircraft standards and certification are a magnitude harder than military aircraft as human life is involved. Nationalistic pride cannot be an excuse to reinvent the wheel. The dornier 228, is exactly in the same weight division and payload capacity of the Saras.

Now some brilliant minds are trying to reinvent the wheel by making this plane exactly in the weight and payload range of the world leading well proven ATR 72. The ATR has flown millions of KMS and has a good safety record. Its still being flown by india carriers for a very long time and is the proven type for short haul flights. IT has many proven variants from Maritime Patrol, to EW, utility, transport etc.

 

[sunilanalysis]

Turbo propellers have ascent problem and Jet Engine based passenger aircraft have descent problem on landing... Many pilots bang runways during landing in India, but no one dares to admit it... passengers dont know about it, think its normal way a plane lands...

 

[M.H.]

If this RTA program goes ahead, it will need to have some kind of differential in order to have any chance of success, especially in terms of efficiency when compared to current regional transport aircraft.

Even Embraer, which was studying a new turboprop as a basis for its E-Jets, realized that with current technology, especially engines, its model would not stand out against the ATR's and de Havilland's. Instead of investing in a program with a high chance of failure, they chose to study new energy sources and focus on the Energia family, which will have different forms of propulsion.

 

[yogesh]

Reference the article above, the project is really good but maybe NAL can consider a collaborative approach so that it evolves parallel to HAL. Lot of potential in the project but it would perhaps be sensible to work with others to create an ecosystem for civilian aircraft manufacturing

 

[ASHOK CARROL]

90+ then 150 , and simultaneously both Boeing and airbus must be compelled to set up narrow body, wide body and long range aircraft manufacturing, repair and maintain enc hubs in India including training, Simulators and stores hubs within the country to engage, engineers m, scientists and technical skilled personnel .

 

[Koorma]

Do not waste time. Just buy a foreign company which makes such planes with all the intellectual and property rights. That will save so much time and money.

 

[Akshat]

Do not waste time. Just buy a foreign company which makes such planes with all the intellectual and property rights. That will save so much time and money.

Which such company is up for sale buddy?

 

[De_SECULARISED]

Which such company is up for sale buddy?

Offer the same 2bn*+- to embraer & collect all the blue print of M390 with conditions of initial handholding from the OEM with all the know how & whys. Again conditions of funding for future variants with co-production.
As the 2bn seed money asked by NAL will definitely going to drain. Just stop this nonsense of reinventing the wheel.

 

[Shafted mohammed]

Offer the same 2bn*+- to embraer & collect all the blue print of M390 with conditions of initial handholding from the OEM with all the know how & whys. Again conditions of funding for future variants with co-production.
As the 2bn seed money asked by NAL will definitely going to drain. Just stop this nonsense of reinventing the wheel.

I agree with you develop a joint venture with embrearer and with other possible plane manufacturers. India has to develop engines for Tejas as there is an undeclared ban on engines. Try to make commercial jet engines and replace these American engines in commercial planes. The prime priority is 60-80 , 100-120 & 180-200 passengers planes and occupy the Indian market and then the Asian market.

 

[Akshat]

Offer the same 2bn*+- to embraer & collect all the blue print of M390 with conditions of initial handholding from the OEM with all the know how & whys. Again conditions of funding for future variants with co-production.
As the 2bn seed money asked by NAL will definitely going to drain. Just stop this nonsense of reinventing the wheel.

You think they would give those? Any source to back up the claim?

 

[beencensured]

Offer the same 2bn*+- to embraer & collect all the blue print of M390 with conditions of initial handholding from the OEM with all the know how & whys. Again conditions of funding for future variants with co-production.
As the 2bn seed money asked by NAL will definitely going to drain. Just stop this nonsense of reinventing the wheel.

Do you know the technology of NAL. They say they will make more light weight and composite design saving significant fuel.

 

[De_SECULARISED]

You think they would give those? Any source to back up the claim?

They're trying hard to sell those to india, even ready for local production.
Need to Put some efforts from our end, to convince them that what is the use of R&D done, cleared all security certification, but not going for production. You are just killing your brain child nothing else.

By selling You are getting your r&d costs back & rejuvenate the entire program in total, with conditions of funding for future variants.

 

[MF]

Which such company is up for sale buddy?

I believe that no civil aircraft manufacturer is interested in being sold at the moment.

 

[MF]

90+ then 150 , and simultaneously both Boeing and airbus must be compelled to set up narrow body, wide body and long range aircraft manufacturing, repair and maintain enc hubs in India including training, Simulators and stores hubs within the country to engage, engineers m, scientists and technical skilled personnel .

No one is obliged to do anything! Aircraft manufacturers will only make investments of this kind if India is willing to bear the billion-dollar costs.

 

[Akhil]

Offer the same 2bn*+- to embraer & collect all the blue print of M390 with conditions of initial handholding from the OEM with all the know how & whys. Again conditions of funding for future variants with co-production.
As the 2bn seed money asked by NAL will definitely going to drain. Just stop this nonsense of reinventing the wheel.

People playing FIFA manager in real world defense industry.

does Embraer needs 2b+? Does Embraer wants to blue print? What are the Intellectual right? What are the country policies?

 

[narasingha satapathy]

It is good to dream, but we have to work for it.Before starting a new project we must look into our past sucess and failure and draw a way forward.Lessons learnt to be implemented.Let us make present civil aircraft projects a reality than think.The money we will be spending from the tax .As a nation let make something new not what is already there.

 

[Akshat]

They're trying hard to sell those to india, even ready for local production.
Need to Put some efforts from our end, to convince them that what is the use of R&D done, cleared all security certification, but not going for production. You are just killing your brain child nothing else.

By selling You are getting your r&d costs back & rejuvenate the entire program in total, with conditions of funding for future variants.

You are also creating a competitor who has more money and a larger home market for the future. Any strategic thinker would outright reject such a proposal.

 

[ABHIJIT APSINGIKAR]

Which such company is up for sale buddy?

Tough not for sale, there is a distinct possibility to negotiate with Mitsubishi Aerospace for their regional jet business division and acquire IP rights for MRJ-70/Spacejet 70 and MRJ-90/Spacejet90 as the whole division was wound up. Moreover when Mitsubishi acquired Bombardier regional jet business tgey also acquired the CRJ series project. If negotiated we could acquire IP for them.

Apart from that though now fairly old and obsolete, BAE 146/Avro RJ is also an option and would offer fairly robust design framework for Indian regional jet, so would the Dornier 328-300JET and 428JET series aircraft.

 

[sunmeh]

I hope our dear Minister has qualified advisors to select the aircraft...this project seems to just re-invent the wheel...and nothing else. If Bharat is spending 2 Billion dollars, then we need current or futuristic technology...not outdated ones. We seriously need turbo fan engines, jet engines to be developed in Bharat..we all see the struggle that we are going through. So why not invest there ? Coming to the airframe, we need to track the latest developments in the aviation world and pursue them .

 

[linus52]

Which such company is up for sale buddy?

Dreamer invest in Indian Engineers and Technicians with Private companies not HAL & DRDO