Interview | President, Boeing India, Salil Gupte

How did Boeing adapt to new realities dictated by the Covid-19 Pandemic? Nearly two years later, how does the company view the post pandemic world?

As our business has evolved, we have focused on long-term sustained growth that allows us to weather the industry’s historical cyclicality. Our disciplined forecasting has helped shape how we face short term challenges and enabled us to take tough but necessary actions to adapt our business to a changed marketplace.

We raised liquidity, suspended our dividend, terminated our share repurchase authorisation, reduced spending, cut overhead costs, streamlined reporting structures, and lowered commercial production rates and staffing levels. We also launched our full-scale business transformation effort to adapt to the new market reality and position the company to be sharper, more competitive and more resilient for the long term. As part of this effort, we shaped our infrastructure, streamlined our overhead and organisational structure, rebalanced our portfolio and investment mix, and strengthened the health of our supply chain.

Does Boeing anticipate any more P8I aircraft orders? Are there any other orders that the conglomerate await from the Indian side?

We believe there is a need for long-range maritime surveillance and ASW requirements in the Indian Ocean Region and the Indian Navy may have a requirement for more P-8Is and also more Harpoons and we stand ready to support them.

Today, India operates 11 C-17s, 22 AH-64 Apaches (with six more on order), 15 CH-47 Chinooks, 12 P-8Is, three VVIP aircraft and two Head of State aircraft. All of these are Boeing platforms. We regularly engage in discussions about the value our portfolio can deliver to develop capabilities they require for the execution of their missions. In the near-term, those capabilities include additional P-8Is, Apaches and Chinooks, the F/A-18 Super Hornet Block III, and additional training, sustainment, and performance-based logistics solutions.

Can you share an update on the Apache programme in India?

Boeing completed the deliveri