Wednesday morning in Atlanta at the 60th National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Annual Meeting and Convention, executives from Epic Aircraft, India-based Kingfisher Airlines and Airbus sat down to confirm rumors and reports of a new strategic partnership, releasing few details but giving rise to additional speculation. Rick Schrameck, Epic Aircrafts president and CEO, Hitesh Patel, Kingfishers executive vice president and Arnaud Martin, vice president of the Airbus corporate and executive jet operation held a press conference in which they confirmed Kingfishers $200 million, 50/50 "strategic partnership" with Epic but left open the specific roles each other would play. Lurking in the background was Airbus, which presently has no formal agreement with Epic but has a longstanding manufacturer/customer relationship with Kingfisher, a large scheduled aircraft operation in headquartered in Mumbai, India. On its face, the new arrangement between manufacturer Epic and Kingfisher likely will prove a boon to both companies. But is there something else beneath the surface. Officials of all three companies delivered little more than a figurative shrug Wednesday morning.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/epic-kingfisher-airbus-confirm-and-confuse-strategic-partnership