Mahindra to launch NM5, its first aircraft
12 Aug 2011
Mahindra Aerospace, a subsidiary of auto major Mahindra & Mahindra, says it islooking to launch its first aircraft, NM5, in the next six weeks, besides commissioning its upcoming airframe unit in Bangalore by June 2012.
Hemant Luthra, president of Mahindra Systech, the holding company of Mahindra Aerospace, told a select media gathering yesterday that if everything went well the company would be able to launch the five-seater NM5 aircraft developed in association with the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) as early as within the next six weeks.
The NM5 is India's first indigenously developed civilian aircraft by a private entity, and is expected to cost somewhere between $350,000 and 400,000 (around Rs 1.6-1.8 crore), roughly around the cost of a Ferrari.
Luthra said a prototype of the plane was in the final stage of testing.
He added that it all now depended on the confidence of the test pilot.
Mahindra Aerospace is a joint venture between the Mahindras and National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), a Bangalore-based government institution. The commercial production of the aircraft is expected to start at the under-construction airframe of Mahindra Aerospace in Bangalore following the tests on the plane.