Patel`s airport repair hub dream smothered

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel’s plans to make India a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hub for aircraft in Asia are set to crash.
China, once again, has left India way behind. While over 300 MRO companies are in operation in China, only three have set up shops in India — Max Aerospace, Airworks and Indamer.
Though the entry of Lufthansa Technik, Boeing and Airbus will double the number of MRO centres in India, the numbers will still fall way short of China. So far, ten companies have shown interest in getting into the business. Not all, experts expressed fear, may see the light of day.
In fact, such has been the growth of China that it now challenges the dominance of Singapore. Boeing has announced a new MRO unit in Shanghai, which will turn the city into an international hub by 2010.
China has around 100 operational special economic zones (SEZs), free trade zones, state-level economic zones and high tech industrial zones, which offer substantial tax incentives. Many of these SEZs have airports, which makes it convenient for an MRO company to set up shop.
In comparison, it seems that only two Indian SEZs will house MRO facilities — Nagpur for Air India-Boeing and Hyderabad for Lufthansa Technik-GMR.
21/04/08 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Apr 2008, Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2008