Kiran Rao
Title : On the Top
 
Company Name : Airbus
 
 
       
 

Fly high, fly high, so high. Jump up high, to fetch the sky. For him it's not a nursery rhyme, but the new buzz of Indian aviation sector. With a burgeoning aviation industry being clearly visible in India skyline, he strategies sale of his products - Airbus, and innovates new marketing mantra to restrict the arch rival Boeing. An aeronautical engineer by profession, Dr Kiran Rao worked in British Aerospace - now BAE Systems - before joining the Airbus. He has been president, Airbus India, for quite some time. Prior to that, he had a foray as the director of airline marketing for Airbus in North America.

When he was just 36, he was taken back to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, as vice-president for sales and marketing in-charge of sub-Saharan Africa and India regions. Today, he is senior vice-president (sales and marketing) in this aircraft manufacturing giant. Rao has had a stellar innings in Airbus. And he is bullish about the India. The 2005 Paris Air Show has made Rao a happy man. Among other big Airbus orders in Paris, Kingfisher Airlines ordered five A330s, five A350 jets and five of the massive 555-seater A380s in a $3 billion deal. Airbus estimates that India will eventually need twenty A380s giants.

 

Rao has put behind the disappointment that followed after Air India's decision to buy 50 Boeing aircraft for $6.9 billion. Airbus is now focusing on growing its share of the Indian market and using it as a source for software services, design and composite materials. That includes A320 passenger doors from state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and software services from Infosys Technologies and HCL Technologies Ltd. HAL has a contract worth more than $80 million and Infosys worked on the design and development of the A380.

"Everyone knows the high-quality of work and the cheaper costs in India. As an Indian at Airbus, I will encourage more outsourcing to India," he says. But is he not over-optimistic about the India prospects? "We recognise there is an issue with the infrastructure, but if we just sit back and wait for it to improve, no aircraft will be ordered," he says. And he seems to be right. The Paris Air Show has surely buoyed Airbus's hopes on India. In addition to Kingfisher's big budget orders, low-cost start-up IndiGo Airlines placed a surprise order for a full fleet of 100 jets in the single-aisle A320 family. In fact, Indian orders worth $13 billion helped Airbus outsell rival Boeing by a margin of more than two to one in the air show. Rao now says that Airbus aims to win at least half an estimated $55 billion worth of new aircraft orders expected to come from India by 2023. With Rao at the helms, Airbus will face no air-pocket jerks in Indian space.