Boeing to begin work on new MRO unit by mid-2010

After being delayed for two years, Boeing will start construction of an $100-million aircraft repair and overhaul facility at Nagpur by the second quarter of this calendar year in collaboration with Air India, its top official here said today.

"We deliberately delayed the MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) project as we wanted to time it to match with the delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliners to Air India. It would come up by late 2013 or early 2014," Boeing India chief Dinesh Keskar told reporters here.

About 50 acres of land has already been allocated for the project by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company and construction would start in the "second quarter of this year".

He said the MRO facility was intended to serve 23 Boeing 777s, 27 Dreamliner 787s as also other aircraft types like 737s ordered by Air India.

Noting that B-787s would not require major checks immediately after their deliveries to Air India starts next year, he said when these aircraft would need to go in for high -level 'C' checks, "the facility would be fully in place".

The Boeing India chief projected that India would require $100 billion worth of planes in the next 20 years, with single-aisle aircraft forming the bulk of the demand worth $60 billion.

As the 10th largest military spender in the world, India would require $31 billion worth of defence deliveries in the next 10 years, he said.