Bangalore to beat Delhi, Nagpur as MRO hub

Bangalore to beat Delhi, Nagpur as MRO hub
Thursday November 8 2007 00:00 IST

G Virat Singh

BANGALORE: With over 500 aircraft and 1,000 helicopters expected to fly in India in the next 5-10 years, Bangalore appears to be the most sought-after place in the South for establishing maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities.

While Jet Airways has plans to invest USD 60 million for the much-hyped MRO hub in Bangalore, Kingfisher Airlines also has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Abu Dhabi-based GAMCO to set up MRO facility in Bangalore.

Jet Airways, which had also considered two other locations -Delhi and Nagpur - for setting up MRO, is said to have ultimately chosen Bangalore. The MRO will be spread over an area of 25-50 acres and will carry out maintenance work of the airlines fleet as well as third party works. It will be capable of carrying out maintenance work of both Airbus and Boeing aircraft.

The MRO facility, which will be developed on joint venture basis, will have a foreign partner who the airline is yet to decide on. Jet Airways was in talks with Lufthansa Technik before the German firm joined hands with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.

The Kingfisher's MRO, too, will carry out third party works. International players other than Boeing and Lufthansa Technik, who are looking at the growing MRO market in the country, include Singapore Airlines, ST Aerospace and El Al Israel Airlines. The engine manufacturers include GE, Roll Royce, Snecma and Pratt & Whitney.

Even the Bangalore-based public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is seriously considering turning its currently operational airport at Bangalore into an aerospace MRO facility for civil aircraft by the time it closes down civil flight operations in April 2008.

HAL, which is open to domestic private investors in the MRO activity, has already held talks with Airbus and its main providers of MRO services and has completed a project assessment with these potential partners.

The HAL-owned Bangalore airport, with ready hangars, fuelling and other infrastructure necessary for an MRO unit, handles 300 landings a day. It generates revenue of Rs 150 crore for HAL and the MRO business could match the returns from airport operations.

The airport will be shut down once the greenfield international airport begins operations from Devanahalli, 40 km away.