NEW DELHI: Public sector carrier Indian has tied up with a private firm to set up the first MRO facility for aircraft's airframe maintenance in India, with an estimated investment of Rs 300 crore. The location of the MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility for advanced 'C-checks' of Airbus aircraft airframe would be decided shortly, though Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad could be the possible choices. 

An MoU to set up a joint venture company to run the MRO was signed by Indian CMD Vishwapati Trivedi and Bangalore- based Jupiter Aviation's CEO Ravi Narayanan here. Also present at the ceremony was Airbus Industrie's global Executive Vice President Kiran Rao and EADS (India) CEO Yves Guillame. The facility, to be set up in the next 24 months, would not only deal with the Airbus fleet of Indian, but would attract business from several airlines in the South Asian region using Airbus aircraft.

A business plan would soon be worked out, which would deal with all financial aspects of the joint venture firm, Trivedi said adding that the project size would be about Rs 300 crore, with at least Rs 100 crore worth of investment in the first year. Jupiter Aviation CEO Narayanan said the effort would be to create a regional hub to cater attract business from countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan, where there was a large fleet of Airbus aircraft.

Though the Airbus Industrie would not be investing in the MRO project, Kiran Rao said the aircraft manufacturing firm had a policy of creating a global network of such MROs. So far, the passenger planes requiring major checks and repairs were taken out of the fleet and sent to Europe or the US for the job. Trivedi said while the first airframe MRO in the country would not only generate revenue for the state-owned carrier, it would also enable the Indian to ensure increased availability of its aircraft as the planes would not be flown abroad for the major checks.

Under the MoU, the JV firm would undertake airframe maintenance, overhaul and repair Airbus aircraft of Indian and other airlines. In addition to DGCA, the MRO would also obtain approvals from other global regulatory authorities like the Federal Aviation Authority of the US to enable it undertake other party work.