By Haripriya Suresh

BENGALURU, June 25 (Reuters) - Aircraft interiors supplier Jamco Interiors is looking to expand its engineering, manufacturing and supply chain capacity two-and-a-half times in the next five years, with its Indian operations playing a crucial part, its CEO told Reuters.

The company, which makes premium cabin products for Boeing BA.N and Airbus AIR.PA wide-body planes, is betting on increasing aircraft production and a booming retrofit market, driven by delivery delays.

The expansion plans for Jamco, taken private by Bain Capital last year, include investing $150 million in India, raising its headcount in the country sixfold to 600 by 2031, CEO Kate Schaefer said.

Tokyo-headquartered Jamco, which has set up an engineering centre in Bengaluru, is looking at India to be a full-scale design hub rather than a low-cost engineering base.

"Why can we not have a full design capability in India? From the initial proposal all the way through to delivery, because the talent's here. There's no reason not to," Schaefer said.

Jamco, the sole supplier of lavatories for the Boeing 787, is transferring full design authority for its 787 galleys and lavatories to the India unit.

The company is also looking to diversify its supplies base beyond Japan, where many existing vendors are under strain, and is assessing Indian suppliers, prioritising reliability and steady supply over headline costs.

Aerospace supply chains remain stretched globally, particularly in high-end cabin components.

Schaefer flagged business class seats as a major bottleneck, with demand far outstripping supply, as Jamco re-enters the segment. It stopped accepting orders for business class seats in 2023 to cater to intense demand for other products.

"The two major players in business class seats are now entirely sold out until the early 2030s. If an airline needs seats in two years, they've got nobody to go to," Schaefer said.

The scarcity, combined with production delays at planemakers, is fuelling a surge in retrofitting work as airlines extend using older planes. A significant part of Jamco's design engineering team catering to that demand will also be based in India, Schaefer said.