HYDERABAD: In a bid to increase working shifts and revenue, the Air India is all set to provide training at its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Shamshabad as part of the centre’s Skill India programme, organised in collaboration with three ‘147 training schools’ (aviation schools abiding the EASA guidelines), apart from the existing three.
Air India has also planned to upgrade the existing Hyderabad-base to the International EASA-145 standards, apart from the setting up of service facilities of ATR 72-600 components. The Hyderabad-base has also acquired DGCA approval for the additional capability to carry out full scope MPD base maintenance checks on ATR 72-600 and is ready to take up third party works.
European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an organisation that ensures safety procedures for aircraft. It is the EASA specialists who establish what to look out for and what measures to take for flying safe. Y Srinivas Rao, the station head of Air India Engineering Services (AIES) said: “We currently have 700 employees at all the MROs in South India, with close to 350 employees in Hyderabad alone. We are planning to start an afternoon shift with 100 more recruits whom we will train on the site.”
“We will also be able to increase revenue with extra manpower by taking in third party work,” he added. AEIS was able to accrue a revenue of `1,970 lakh in 2018-19 and it also acquired a revenue of `578 lakh from January to August 2019. Students will have access to the Air India Training Institute in Balanagar, which is complete with state of the art flight simulators, door access training, emergency and security training.
When asked why the spare parts of aircraft are still largely imported from foreign countries, despite the PM’s call for ‘Make in India’, Rao said: “Almost 99% of our spare parts are imported, however, manufacturing of spares in India will require permissions and guidelines from DGCA. We have forwarded representations and the idea to start manufacturing spares in-house is in the pipeline.”