Rolls-Royce Open To The Idea Of An MRO Facility In India
Category:NewsThe engine maker announced a major deal with Air India earlier this year.
With India’s growing role within the global aviation space, aircraft and engine manufacturers are increasingly warming up to the idea of setting up local facilities in the country. Hundreds of new planes will arrive in the coming years, so the thought of setting up MRO facilities in India is no longer far-fetched. And Rolls-Royce is certainly open to the possibility!
Open to Indian MRO facility
Engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is carefully eyeing the aviation scene in India, stating it is open to the idea of setting up maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in the country if there’s a good enough business case for it.
Kishore Jayaraman, president – India and South Asia, Rolls-Royce India, spoke with Financial Express and said the company could explore MRO options in India. He did suggest that several factors would need to be considered as setting up such a facility would require a considerable investment.
All about aircraft numbers
India’s aviation boom in the last decade and a half has seen hundreds of airplanes being inducted into the fleets of several national-level airlines. But with Air India in the process of receiving a massive makeover and IndiGo scaling up massively, discussions about local aerospace facilities in India have gained momentum.
Rolls-Royce already has MRO facilities in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China in Asia, but it’s Air India’s order of its engines earlier this year that has sparked fresh interest from the organization.
In February, the engine maker announced an order from Air India for 68 Trent XWB-97 engines, plus options for 20 more. Rolls-Royce added that it was the “biggest ever order for the Trent XWB-97, which exclusively powers the Airbus A350-1000.”
Additionally, Air India ordered 12 Trent XWB-84 engines, the sole engine option for the Airbus A350-900. The airline recently showed off its first A350 in the new livery and expects to start operations with the type in the coming months. Jayaraman commented,
MRO scope in India
India’s aviation minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, has expressed interest in setting up more MRO facilities in the country. In 2021, he even announced several policy changes to attract investments. These included increasing the allotment of land for such projects and having open tenders for land allotment, among other things.
Indian airlines mainly send their aircraft to other countries for maintenance, repairs, and scheduled checks. Scindia has highlighted that India only holds a tiny 2.5% share of the mammoth $80 billion global aircraft maintenance industry, and he would like this figure to change. Hopefully, there’s enough value for aerospace companies to consider such opportunities in India.
