Indian inks deal with Jupiter Aviation for Airbus MRO

NEW DELHI: State-owned carrier Indian on Thursday signed an agreement with Rajeev Chandrasekhar-owned firm Jupiter Aviation and Logistics to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at an estimated investment of Rs 300 crore. This facility -- for which aircraft maker Airbus is the advisor -- will be used for maintenance of airframes, the mechanical structure of an aircraft excluding engines.

Airbus’s parent EADS, which last month signed an MoU with Jupiter Aviation and Logistics to collaborate in aviation ventures, has authorised the Bangalore-based Jupiter to enter into the joint venture with Indian to set up an MRO. This facility is being set up under the offset agreement signed between Airbus and Indian.

The MRO facility will initially cover Airbus A 320 aircraft but later it will also cater to other Airbus family planes. The facility, to be set up in the next 24 months, would not only deal with the Airbus fleet of Indian, but would attract business from several airlines in the South Asian region using Airbus aircraft, Indian CMD V Trivedi told reporters here.

The location of MRO facility would be decided shortly, though Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad could be the possible choices. “A business plan would soon be worked out, which would deal with all financial aspects of the joint venture firm,” Mr Trivedi said.

Apart from India, several other airlines like Kingfisher, Air Deccan, Indigo and Air-India are among the Indian carriers using Airbus aircraft. An MRO facility for the products of Boeing is expected to come up at Nagpur.