European aircraft-maker Airbus is currently in talks with state-run Air India for the sale of its superjumbo A380 aircraft.

John Leahy, chief operating officer (customers) at Airbus, said the company thinks that Air India would need about 10 to 12 A380 aircraft.

The company is targeting a 60 to 70 percent share of the total commercial aviation market in India, up from the 57 percent it currently holds.

Kiran Rao, executive vice-president for marketing, said Airbus is in the process of investing US$600 million towards offsetting projects in India. He said the company hopes to generate revenue of about $1 billion from such projects by 2020.

Indian regulations require foreign companies to invest a certain percentage of their India orders back into the country.

Offset investments for Airbus include the establishment of an engineering and design centre, continuing partnership with Hindustan Aeronautics to make aircraft doors and other software and design projects in India.

Airbus will be increasing the number of employees at its engineering and design centre to 250 from the current 30 by 2010.

Meanwhile, Airbus is at an advanced stage in talks over the sale of production sites in Europe, and will continue to explore cost-cutting measures.

Airbus is trying to sell all or part of several plants in Europe after delays to its A380 superjumbo rocked the company last year, but the process is taking longer than expected.

Airbus said an advanced stage of talks is going on and the sale would be good for the company, good for employees, and good for shareholders.

He said job cuts are a part of the cost saving acts, but what is also important is improvement in the manufacturing process, making it more efficient -- right from the design and development stage, and improvements in the procurement and supply chain.