The Hindu Business Line : Boeing team coming to firm up repair facility

Seattle, July 27 A high level team from Boeing is to visit India next month to firm up plans for the setting up of the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Maharashtra, the Senior Vice-President, Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Dr Dinesh Keskar, has said.

“Land for the project has been acquired in the special economic zone and about 75 acres has been marked out for the project. During the trip the Boeing team will look at various aspects including costing and what is the likely time line for the project to come up. The facility should be ready much sooner than the one-year that a private airline in India takes to set up a large hangar facility,” Dr Keskar said. The MRO is expected to come up near Nagpur.

Air India is partnering with Boeing in the project and the team is also looking to take on another partner. The MRO was one of the projects that were announced soon after Boeing bagged the contract to supply 68 aircraft to Air India.

MRO project

Boeing officials pointed out that huge tracks of land would be required for the MRO project as several hangars, runways and other facilities would have to be constructed.

The US aircraft manufacturer is just one of the various companies that are looking to set up an MRO facility in India to service the growing fleet of aircraft coming in to the country. At present, Boeing alone has sold 131 aircraft to airlines in India.

The manufacturer estimates that India will require another 850 aircraft over the next 20 years both as replacements and for meeting the growing demand.