Cochin International Airport, which is the fourth largest international airport in terms of passenger traffic in the country, is hoping to launch its MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility by June, a senior official of the Cochin International Aviation Services has said.

“The work on the Rs 100-crore MRO facility will be over by June and the facility can then be commissioned after securing the mandatory clearances from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA),” the Cochin International Aviation Services general manager, Mr Jose Thomas, told PTI today.

The airport, which is the first greenfield international airport completed in public-private partnership (PPP) model, had floated its MRO arm — Cochin International Aviation Services — as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2005 and is registered under the Companies Act. It is reportedly one of the most successful ventures in the domestic aviation infrastructure space.

The work to launch the facility began one year later on the periphery of the airport which handles over 3 million passengers annually.

While the MRO services facility is underway, the company is already running a general aviation academy (Cochin International Airport Academy) to impart training to pilots, cabin crew, engineers and technicians, Mr Thomas said. The academy is being run in association with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

On the kind of services that the upcoming MRO facility would offer, he said that the facility would offer airframe and basic repair services such as checking the fuselages and breaks, or what is called in aviation MRO parlance A&C checks. On whether it would offer D-checks, which involves engine overhaul, he said the current plan excludes it.

An ‘A’ check is done after 600 flying hours or 100 days of flying, whichever is earlier, and is done overnight, while ‘C’ check is done after 12-18 months.

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