Air India to set up MRO facilities in Hyd

State-run carrier Air India is setting up maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad at an approximate investment of Rs 80 crore. Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director of the airline, laid the foundation stone for the MRO and engineering facilities here on Thursday. The project is expected to be completed in 18 months.

As part of its development plans at the MRO, Air India has acquired five acre at the Shamshabad airport, where it will set up a hangar for major maintenance of aircraft, an annexe building to accommodate component overhaul shops and various engineering offices. The new hangar will be capable of accommodating two A320 family aircraft simultaneously or one B777/B747 aircraft, the airline said in a release.

Air India, which already has major engineering infrastructure in Mumbai and Delhi for maintenance of aircraft and engines, is aiming to emerge as a major MRO centre in the Asian continent. The airline currently has over 5,000 skilled engineers and technicians capable of undertaking maintenance of all aircraft and engines that it currently has in its fleet.