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Hyderabad April 13 Lufthansa Technik, part of the Lufthansa Aviation Group, has decided to invest $20 million in what could be the first MRO (maintenance, repair & overhaul) for aircraft at the upcoming Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Lufthansa Technik and GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) have inked an agreement to establish the new facility. "Finer details of the project were being worked out," top executives of both companies told presspersons today.

Making the announcement, Mr August Wilhelm Henningsen, Chairman of the Executive Board, Lufthansa Technik, said the MRO would be its 28th globally and would be aircraft base maintenance facility.

"We will concentrate on the growing Indian aviation market and provide service to Indian carriers. The facility is expected to be ready by the end of 2008. Lufthansa believes in not just flying but contributing to the development of infrastructure in India. So we have the airline, cargo, SkyChef and now the MRO", he said.

Mr Dominik Wiener-Silva, Managing Director of Lufthansa Technik India, said the first of its kind MRO will be a `Greenfield project'.

It will be a two-bay facility for narrow-bodied aircraft of the A320 and Boeing 737 types, which Indian carriers operate. The company has already tied up with Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, Het Airways, GoAir and Air Sahara among others.

The facility would provide optimum employment to about 400 people when fully functional. It will handle all the required checks and the MRO functions. "We will recruit and train people with emphasis on the local market for talent. A training programme also would be run", he said responding to questions.

On the competition from the proposed MRO contemplated by Airbus and Boeing in India, Mr Werner Heesen, Director South Asia of Lufthansa German Airlines, said: "India is now not overserved as far as MRO facilities are concerned, it is underserved. Further, we are aiming at a large pie of the emerging Indian MRO market at present. Globally, Lufthansa works closely with Airbus and Boeing also".

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of GHIAL, Mr T. Sri Nagesh, said GMR and Lufthansa Technik are working out the finer details of the joint venture partnership. Since the latter is a world leader in MRO business, the cooperation would be a step forward in making Hyderabad an aviation hub.

He said the international airport would be ready to fly the first aircraft in March next and by the end of that year, the MRO should be ready. The MRO should also promote manufacturing industry in the city. The airport has already tied up with LGS SkyChef of Lufthansa Aviation.

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