AAR-Indamer Technics is planning major growth in 2024, including facility and capability expansions, workforce recruitment and the addition of customers from outside India.
Since it opened in 2021, the joint venture between AAR and Indamer Aviation has completed 100 C checks and grown workforce and facilities.
In phase two of its expansion plan the facility will add another six hangars, which AAR-Indamer Director Prajay Patel says will triple its capacity and enable capability to service widebody aircraft. The facility currently has four hangars with six maintenance bays, an engine run-up bay and a dedicated paint hangar. It is planning additional expansion phases, including the creation of component repair shops, and at completion it plans to have 16 maintenance bays total.
AAR-Indamer’s facility has implemented several sustainability initiatives, including solar power generation, wastewater recycling and on-site effluent and hazardous waste management.
AAR-Indamer has so far only maintained Airbus A320s and A321s for domestic carriers, including IndiGo and GO First (prior to its bankruptcy). The facility will soon develop capabilities to carry out work on Boeing and ATR aircraft, along with certain defense MRO capabilities. It holds approvals from aviation authorities in India, the U.S., the Philippines, Guernsey and the Cayman Islands, and it is on track to receive approval from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency soon.
In addition to airframe maintenance, AAR-Indamer offers services such as component repair, composite repair, aircraft cabin accessories repair, landing gear and engineering services, and aircraft painting. In 2024 it plans to develop major component repair capabilities, including specialized repairs for thrust reversers and nacelles.
Patel says AAR-Indamer expects foreign aircraft to come to the facility for C checks in the future. Within five years it plans to double its capacity and offer MRO capabilities to other countries in Southeast Asia.
It also plans to establish a final assembly line for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Last month it partnered with Airbus Helicopters to service helicopters in Nagpur.
AAR-Indamer’s Nagpur facility currently employs a workforce of 275 engineers with AAR providing technical support through process improvement and software integration. The facility is also supported by Indamer Group’s 525 employees across India. It plans to recruit more than a hundred skilled maintenance engineers and technicians in 2024.
Realizing the need to train more future maintenance technicians and engineers, AAR-Indamer Group also plans to open its own MRO school. “Our endeavor is to hire staff from the local region,” says Patel. “Sensing the need for Directorate General of Civil Aviation approved training schools in Nagpur, we plan to open our own school to provide technical employment opportunities.”
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