GMR to assemble planes next

Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) is setting up an aircraft manufacturing unit near the international terminal that it operates near the city, in a joint venture with an unnamed European major.
“We are talking to an European company, which is a leading aircraft manufacturer. We are hopeful of signing an agreement in the next 1-2 months,” Ravindran Devagunam, COO, of the aviation and aerospace business of the GHIAL, told DNA on Thursday.
The manufacturing activity would be confined to smaller aircraft initially. “We are looking assembling these small aircraft first,” Devagunam said.
GHIAL is setting up an aerospace special economic zone across 250 acres at the sprawling 5,500-acre airport complex.
In fact, the European company is working on this deal as part of its offset obligation for defence contracts bagged in India.
The GMR group is planning to convert this aircraft major into an anchor client at the manufacturing hub at the SEZ.
“We are talking to one more aircraft company. But, the European company would be the first to come and hopefully it would be the first with which we would be signing a deal,” he said.
The investments and size of the activity are yet to be determined.
In fact, the SEZ is one of the plans GMR has to monetize the property it has at the international airport.
29/01/10 KV Ramana/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Foreign Jan 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2010, New Jan 2010