Work on creating a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for aircraft at Chennai airport is likely to begin soon.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said they were in talks with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) to kick-start the process. Having such a facility would be significant. “We have earmarked nearly 55 acres of land near the secondary runway. An MRO facility with hangars and other infrastructure will be developed in the near future. When this is done, the perimeter of the airport will be redrawn to accommodate this as well. This is a preliminary discussion and we will see how soon the facility can be established in Chennai,” an official said.
TIDCO sources said a firm came forward to do set up the MRO facility, but the proposal had to be shelved because of land issues. “But now, we will acquire and get the land for the firm that is chosen for this work. We are in talks with AAI because to move forward we need to get their acceptance and clearance from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security as well. It is not clear how long it may take to develop this facility now, but we want to make a start quickly and set things forward as this will help in job creation and give a boost to the industry,” a source said.
Early this year, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Rajya Sabha that AAI had a “liberal maintenance, repair and overhaul policy with significantly reduced and liberalised land rentals. No revenue share will be charged from MROs by AAI under the new contracts.”
Apart from Chennai, AAI plans to allot land for MRO facilities in Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Kolkata, Juhu, Delhi and Tirupati.
