Construction work at Boeing's MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility in Nagpur is expected to be completed on time, by December this year.

Boeing India's President, Mr Dinesh Keskar, said, “We had given the construction work to Larsen & Toubro and they will complete construction of the two hangars by December.”

Functional in 2 years

However, the MRO, which will be run by Air India, will only be functional after two years. Mr Keskar said Boeing will take over the hangars after December and start installing all the equipment in the MRO which is required to handle the aircraft which require maintenance and repair.

“There will be two hangars at the facility. Each hangar can hold one Boeing 777 or three Boeing 737 aircraft,” said Mr Keskar.

Investment

Boeing has invested $ 100 million in the facility which will not only be the servicing hub for Air India's fleet of Boeing aircraft but also other airlines' fleet. The MRO investment from Boeing is a part of the offset requirement after it sold 68 aircraft to Air India in 2005.

The MRO is coming up on 50 acres in Mihan-SEZ.

After Boeing installs the equipment, it will then seek certification from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for the MRO.

Once the facility is built and ready, Air India will take over the functioning of the MRO.

The MRO will be carved out as a separate subsidiary of the national carrier, hiving off the airline's maintenance and engineering department into the new entity.