India's Air Works looks to enlarge footprint in commercial MRO

Air Works India Engineering, the country's leading aviation services company, is looking to leverage recent EASA repair station certifications for the 737NG and ATR 42/72 to boost its presence in India's commercial aviation sector, according to Director and Group Head Ravi Menon, who spoke with ATWOnline in Singapore this week.
Menon, a member of the family that founded the company in 1951, noted that Air Works is no stranger to the MRO market, having performed C checks on Jet Airways' 737s in the early 1990s. In 2007 it made the decision to transform the family-owned business by bringing in two outside investors--Global Technology Investment Group, a New York-based investment firm, and Punj Lloyd, an Indian company specializing in the energy and infrastructure sectors.
With fresh capital, the company began growing its footprint beyond the corporate and general aviation sector (where it is India's biggest provider) into MRO for the burgeoning airline industry. Currently, India has very little domestic third-party MRO capability, with transports either maintained in-house or sent out of the region to MRO facilities in places like Malaysia and the Middle East.
Last November, Air Works became the first Indian company to receive EASA certification, covering airframe and component maintenance for 737NGs and Classics and the ATR family. It already held DGAC authority, Menon pointed out, but EASA certification makes it possible to attract aircraft that are on lease to Indian airlines, as lessors typically require carriers to have such aircraft maintained at FAA- or EASA-certified stations. In January, Air Works received Airbus certification for the A320 up to A check and is working toward C check authority.
The company is developing a maintenance center at Hosur, a privately owned airport near Bangalore. Menon noted that India's primary and secondary airports are too crowded and space-constrained to develop new MRO capability. The first hangar at Hosur is operational and can handle one 737/A320 and a turboprop. It has carried out C checks on a pair of Kingfisher ATR 72s and a 737 for SpiceJet.
The second facility will be a paint hangar, with construction set to start in the next three months. Air Works also has plans for a general aviation hangar to undertake major checks and in 3-4 years, depending on how the market develops, a widebody facility.
05/02/10 Perry Flint/ATW Online

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Categories: Foreign Feb 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2010, Singapore Airshow 2010