MRO OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES – INDIA

India offers a great MRO opportunity due to its geographical location, proximity to the international shipping lines and its own massive intrinsic aircraft fleet

- ZORAWAR SINGH JAISWAL

MAINTENANCE REPAIR AND OVERHAUL (MRO) includes all those activities that are undertaken by aircraft owners to keep their aircraft airworthy. Usually, all MRO job works are not done in-house by airlines so that they can concentrate on their core domain of generating revenues by flying passengers and cargo. Individual aircraft owners, on the other hand, lack the economic and technical resources needed to carry out the MRO activities themselves. Hence, clusters of MRO Companies that offer repair services organically come up where there is a high throughput of aircraft to offer aviation MRO services to airlines and private jet owners.

Singapore and Dubai are the major MRO hubs in Asia. India lies roughly between them and offers a great MRO opportunity due to its geographical location, proximity to the international shipping lines and its own massive intrinsic aircraft fleet. As per the Handbook (Aviation) 2018-19 released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on its website, India has 1,940 flying machines registered with them. These include both public and private aircraft of all types. Hence India’s intrinsic inventory of aircraft is colossal and can support a vibrant MRO Industry. However, the Indian MRO industry faces some challenges in providing MRO services to the vast number of aircraft due to technical, human, legislative and financial reasons. Nonetheless, every challenge can be an economic opportunity if properly exploited.