flightglobal.com 17-23 February 2015 | Flight International | 41AUSTRALIA
SPECIAL REPORTsoon be able to sell its aircraft there, with
Mahindra having “aggressive plans in India”,
says Dauplaise.
In addition, certification of the type was re-
cently received in China – where Mahindra is
“very optimistic” about sales.
Over the past couple of years, Mahindra
has been concentrating on establishing a glob-
al sales and support network for its aircraft
and this effort is set to continue. “Our focus
this year and next is on building an eco-sys-
tem and support network. You don’t want to
just pump aircraft into a market without sup-port,” says Dauplaise. “You have to get sales
first and once you’ve established a foothold in
the market, put the support in place. It’s very
hard to support from Australia,” he adds.
Following the appointment of dealers in
Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and North Amer-
ica, South America and particularly Brazil are
the next focus, says Dauplaise. The Airvan 8
received Brazilian certification last October
and the rugged environment makes the coun-
try an ideal market for the type.
Further development of the Airvan 8 is
under way. For the cold weather market, inAlaska, for example, where the Airvan 8 has
secured recent sales, a version with
retractable skis will be available early this
year. An intelligence, surveillance and recon-
naissance version, developed with Summit
Aviation, is also planned.CUSTOMISATION
Development also continues of a float version,
which the manufacturer has been working on
with US float specialist Wipaire since 2011.
Dauplaise says he prefers not to put a timeline
on that programme, which has been held up
by the northern hemisphere winter, as frozen
lakes have halted the flight-test programme.
Last year, Mahindra launched an executive
interior for the Airvan 8 as an option in a bid to
compete with its primary competitor, the
Cessna 206, in the private owner-flown market.
The Airvan 8 has always performed strongly in
the utility market but underperformed in the
private owner market – and the customised in-
terior, which would be installed in the USA, is
an attempt to address this, he says.
When Mahindra first acquired Gippsland,
it had ambitions of growing the Airvan family
with two more members – the Airvan 10 and
Airvan 18 (the former Nomad) within two
years. While that ambition has not been ful-
filled, work on new family members contin-
ues, with certification of the Airvan 10 pro-
gressing, according to Dauplaise.
The Airvan 10 is a stretch of the Airvan 8,
featuring 10 seats, and is based on the same
concept as its eight-seat cousin, namely sim-
plicity at low operating costs. The programme ❯❯Mahindra’s flagship product, the eight-seat piston-powered Airvan 8, is now operating in more than 34 countriesThe type’s roles range from air taxi to freight, tourism, skydiving and law enforcementMahindraMahindra