BENGALURU: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet is likely to become the first private carrier to utilise the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility of Air India (AI).
Sources said that SpiceJet is hoping to rope in AI to handle the maintenance of its aircraft but it remains unclear if the MRO for its fleet would be done at Nagpur or the Hyderabad unit. SpiceJet reportedly gets its MRO from a Zurich-based company.
The 50-acre MRO facility of AI at Nagpur has been built at a cost of $107 mn by Boeing, while the recently inaugurated Hyderabad unit was developed by Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL), a wholly owned arm of AI.
AI’ units can conduct A check (every 125 flight hours), B Check (every 4-6 months) and C Check (every 20-24 months).
The already bleeding desi carriers are further burdened by sending their aircraft to other countries for MRO, due to lack of facilities here.
Though the industry is expected to grow to about $1.6 billion (spending each year) in the next 10 years from the current market size of about $700-800 mn, it still remains largely unexplored.
“We do not use the MRO facility of AI currently for our aircraft,” a SpiceJet official told Express, but refused to comment on the talks with AI.
MRO industry growth in India has been hindered by lessors preference to neighboring nations like Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.
According to MRO Association of India, leasing companies and financing banks are apprehensive about how to complete the eight-year heavy maintenance check and the re-delivery checks in India.