Air India MRO to get going by February

DGCA nod awaited

The Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility of Air India Charters Ltd. (AICL), a fully owned subsidiary of Air India, in the vicinity of the international airport here will become operational by February. The AICL has sought more land from the State to set up auxiliary industrial units.

Announcing this after a high-level meeting convened here on Monday to discuss the issues faced by the airport, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation K.C. Venugopal said they were awaiting the mandatory clearance from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the MRO to begin the crucial ‘C’ checks on Boeing 737-800 aircraft of the Air India Express (AIE), the low-cost arm of Air India.

The MRO would be equipped to take up third-party business, although initially it would take care of the aircraft in the AIE fleet, Mr. Venugopal said.

“We are expecting an investment of Rs.2,500 crore by 2020 and we want more land to set up auxiliary units to supply the spares for the MRO.”

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who attended the meeting, along with Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor and Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar, Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman V.P. Agrawal, and top officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry and the AAI, had issued a directive to identify two plots.

The MRO has been set up on 6.07 hectares of land provided by the State.

T-VoA

The Tourist Visa on Arrival (T-VoA) facility to be introduced at the international airport here will be introduced in a month.

“Only this airport from the State is on the list, and the file is being processed at the Ministry of Home Affairs as security issues are involved,” Mr. Venugopal said.

Kerala will become the fifth gateway to India for holidaymakers from 11 countries who can get the T-VoA when the international airport here joins the airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata in issuing this facility.

Mr. Venugopal said a road map had been prepared for overcoming the shortage of pilots in AIE.

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·  More land to set up auxiliary units sought

·  Road map to overcome pilots’ shortage

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