By Nathan Gomes
Dec 17 (Reuters) – U.S. aviation startup Natilus on Wednesday said that India’s SpiceJet has ordered 100 of its blended-wing-body jets, as the company marks its entry into the fast-growing Indian market with the launch of a local subsidiary.
India’s aviation market is the fifth biggest in the world, according to industry group IATA, and is a lucrative hotspot for global carriers and planemakers driven by stronger post-pandemic demand for travel to and from the country.
Natilus is also considering India as one of the possible locations for a manufacturing facility, and aims to build roughly 300 HORIZON jets at the site once complete.
“I think there’s a huge opportunity for us to scale up into what could be actually a second manufacturing facility over there,” Natilus’ CEO Aleksey Matyushev told Reuters.
Earlier this year Natilus said that it had begun the process of selecting the site of its first U.S. manufacturing facility.
Low-cost carrier SpiceJet said it would work with Natilus to help it get certified in India and purchase the jets once regulatory hurdles are cleared.
Natilus said it would look at sourcing manufactured components from India, and its subsidiary, Natilus India, will be headquartered in Mumbai.
Founded in 2016, San Diego, California-based Natilus is among the companies looking to commercialize the blended-wing jet design concept, an idea that has been long explored in defense and experimental aircraft, but not mainstream airline service. Boeing and Airbus have also experimented with blended-wing-body concepts over the years.
Natilus is currently pursuing Part 25 certification for its HORIZON jet through the Federal Aviation Administration and expects it to hit the market by the start of the next decade.
Its HORIZON jet will sit in a similar narrowbody segment to Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320 jet family, while promising to deliver more interior space, lower fuel costs and half the operational costs of legacy jets.
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
