Adani Defence to acquire aircraft maintenance player Air Works for ₹400 crore

Adani Enterprises arm, Adani Defence Systems & Technologies Ltd, announced the acquisition of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firm Air Works for an enterprise value of ₹400 crore.

Air Works is an established MRO player in India with a presence across 27 cities with all the required domestic and global certifications for aircraft maintenance.

With the deal, Adani Defence & Aerospace will access three EASA and DGCA-certified base MRO facilities located in Hosur, Kochi and Mumbai, while the company gets access to 27 cities where Air Works was present for line maintenance also.

Air Works has six maintenance bays and 900+ experts across India. It has operational capabilities for key defence and aerospace platforms.

After announcing the deal at the DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Ashish Rajvanshi, CEO of Adani Defence & Aerospace, said, “The last 15 years had witnessed a significant exodus of MRO capabilities to neighbouring countries such as SL, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, where all the Indian airlines go for basic MRO and base maintenance etc. From the deal, our intention is not just to focus on line and base maintenance, but the real value will come when we do the engine MRO.”

“The current India market in MRO on the civil side is USD 1.7 billion, and on the defence side, the market is about USD 2.5-3 billion. It is expected to grow 3x by 2030 looking at the way we see induction of new aircrafts in civil aviation and defence both. So this market is going to explode. This is the turning point for the country,” Rajvanshi told Businessline, stating that the Air Works is just one of the pillars of Adani’s strategy in defence play.

From the first P-8I aircraft Phase 32 checks to Phase 48 checks and MRO on the landing gear of the Indian Air Force’s 737 VVIP aircraft, Air Works undertakes base maintenance for ATR 42/72, A320 and B737 fleet of aircraft.

D Anand Bhaskar, MD & CEO, Air Works Group, called it a wonderful opportunity for Air Works and stated that “its employees to be subsumed under Adani Defence & Aerospace platform. The government’s policy measures and initiatives, including the convergence of civil and defence MRO would create economies of scale and huge employment opportunities.”