Air Works in pact with Kingfisher to service turbo-prop fleet

NEW DELHI: Air Works, one of the largest Indian MRO firms, on Tuesday entered into an agreement with private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines to maintain its turbo-prop fleet of ATR-72 aircraft.

Under this agreement, Air Works would perform C-checks on Kingfisher ATRs at its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at Hosur in Karnataka.

With this partnership, Air Works becomes the first Indian MRO to do third party airline maintenance, an Air Works spokesperson said.

C-checks are heavy checks to be carried out at a maintenance base every 12-18 months or after 2,500 flying hours. The heaviest maintenance checks are called the D-checks.

The first Kingfisher aircraft is already undergoing scheduled maintenance, after having arrived at Hosur a week ago. Kingfisher has a fleet of 27 ATR 72-500s and six ATR 42-500s.

Announcing the agreement, Air Works CEO Fredrik Groth said, "We are very pleased to partner with Kingfisher for the maintenance of its ATR aircraft. Our partnership comes at a right time when we are promoting India as a future hub of MRO operations."