Air India to have MRO Facility at Hyderabad

Leveraging its over 5,000 skilled engineers and technicians capable of undertaking maintenance of all aircraft and engines currently in its fleet, Air India plans to emerge as a major maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre in Asia.

The carrier already has major engineering infrastructure in Mumbai and Delhi for maintenance of aircraft and engines, and is now setting up a new MRO facility at Hyderabad's Shamshabad airport, spread across 5 acres of land, which is scheduled for completion at the end of 2010.

The facilities at Hyderabad will consist of a hangar for carrying out major maintenance of aircraft, and an annexe building to accommodate component overhaul shops and various engineering offices.

Air India said the size of the hangar will be about 100 metres x 90 metres with a 24-metre height, and it will be capable of accommodating two A320 family aircraft simultaneously or one B777 / B747 aircraft. The facilities will be created at an approximate cost of Rs80 crore.

Addressing air India project officials Jadhav asked them to ensure completion of the project within the stipulated 18 months.

Currently, Air India's engineering department is responsible for maintaining all aircraft in its fleet in a continuous state of airworthiness in order to secure a high level of safety. This involves a system of preventive and corrective maintenance, including servicing, inspection, testing, overhaul, repair, modification and replacement of parts.

The engineering department in Air India ensures maximum availability of airworthy aircraft without compromising on safety, at high technical despatch reliability and operating at an optimum cost in a competitive environment. Air India can provide world class engineering services comparable to the best in the industry.

Air India's engineering facility is recognised as a certified repair shop both by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Air India is certified by DGCA as approved CAR-145 (Civil Aviation Requirements) Maintenance Organization. Air India is also certified by CAAS (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore) and holds ISO-9001:2000 (Bureau of Indian Standards) certification.