Sri Lanka small passenger aircraft targeted by Mahindra Aviation

Sept 03, 2012 (LBO) – India's Mahindra group is targeting Sri Lanka with its range of small passenger aircraft which can boost domestic and short range air travel between neighboring destinations including the Maldives, a top executive said. The group's chief of strategy, Shiprakash Shukla said its small aircraft is ideal to take smaller groups of tourists looking for quick and easy access to destinations.

Mahindra Aerospace, the aircraft manufacturing arm of the Mahindra group has five, eight and ten seat single engine light aircraft already operating in the Middle East and Australia.

"Tourism industries all over the world go for smaller aircraft. Smaller aircraft doesn’t mean small range," Shukla said.

"Very often you have smaller groups of five, eight or ten people who may wish to go from place A to B or even within South Asia from southern India to Sri Lanka or from Sri Lanka to Maldives.

"A large aircraft is not economical as you may not have a group of 100 to 150 to ferry in one go," he said.

Mahindra Aerospace's GA8 Airvan, made by its Australia based unit GippsAero has already made inroads into Sri Lanka with the island's Deccan Aviation taking delivery of the first aircraft.

The company says the a