BENGALURU: Air India is setting up a maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility on 35 acres at the Bengaluru International Airport. The facility will serve as a key hub for maintaining the airline’s fleet, contributing to the overall efficiency and reliability of Air India’s operations in the region.
Air India has commenced the construction of the new facility and has earmarked Rs 1,400 crore for the project, said the airline’s CEO and MD Campbell Wilson.The facility is expected to be up and running by the beginning of 2026.
Earlier this year, Air India signed an MoU with the Karnataka govt to set up an MRO facility in Bengaluru. The airline has also signed an agreement with SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) to be its strategic partner for the development of this facility. “This is not being set up as a cost-saving measure, although we hope that it will provide cost savings. First and foremost, it’s about maintaining the Air India fleet to a world-class standard both in terms of its reliability and its presentability,” Wilson told TOI.
The MRO is expected to generate over 1,200 jobs for aviation engineers in India and support over 200 SMEs in Karnataka through a supply chain, the company said. “While establishing a physical facility, we are also setting up a basic maintenance training organisation, also in Bengaluru, which will initially train about 150 engineers per year to support the MRO as well as grow an ecosystem. This will support our existing training academy in Gurugram,” Wilson added.
The MRO will feature a mega hangar to accommodate wide-body and narrow-body aircraft under a single roof for base maintenance.