Fast 5: Safran India Plans MRO Expansion

Safran India has ambitious plans to triple its workforce as a part of its robust expansion plan. Aviation Week spoke with CEO Jetendra Gavankar about the company’s plans to set up CFM Leap maintenance services in Hyderabad and how it expects to navigate supply chain challenges in India’s aftermarket.

Safran has been growing its presence in India over the past few years. What has been achieved so far?

Safran has been present in India for more than 65 years and has over 2,000 employees working for its 13 entities, including a training center spread over 17 sites across 7 cities. These companies are working in the aeronautics and defense sectors to support production, design and development, engineering services and IT back-end for Safran Groups’ global and local requirements.

Over the past five years, Safran has stepped up its operations in India, including establishing assembly plants for electrical harnesses and civil engine parts and an IT support center. The Safran and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) joint venture [established in 2023 to develop, produce and support rotorcraft engines] has doubled its capacity to equip civil engines and helicopter turbine pipes.

What are Safran’s plans for contributing to aviation growth in India over the next five years?

In the next five years we have many ambitious plans aligned to the government’s “Make In India Policy,” including:

• Setting up a helicopter engine MRO facility with HAL in Goa and establishing a Leap engine MRO plant to support Indian airlines in Hyderabad, both by 2025.
• Ensuring 75% of Indian aircraft and helicopters are equipped by Safran and more than 1,500 Safran Helicopter turbines are in service in India. We will be working closely with HAL to co-design the next-gen turboshaft engine for HAL’s medium-lift helicopter.
• Safran Engineering Services at Bangalore will be expanding its work further, serving local and global customers on niche technology areas like artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented/virtual reality, data analytics, Internet of Things, automation, health monitoring and additive manufacturing.
• Safran will further triple its workforce in India by 2026.
• We will keep innovating the Safran engines powering the Dassault Mirage 2000 and Rafale aircraft to support the Indian Air Force.

India still faces logistics challenges with regards to spares availability. What steps do you think should be taken to address these challenges?

Safran and CFM are fully committed to mitigate any supply chain issue. The supply chain is still recovering from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the other subsequent shocks: Ukraine, energy, inflation and labor. The supply chain has not returned to a normal level of performance but we see signs of progress. Safran and CFM have launched many actions in terms of customer or supplier support, leasing availability and management intensity. The most fragile parts of the supply chain remain raw materials, castings and forgings. Meanwhile, solutions for Leap durability in harsh environments will be progressively installed in the fleet starting this year. CFM has redesigned parts of the Leap engine to mitigate operational disruptions.

Some foreign MROs plan to set up MRO joint ventures in India and are banking on Safran’s engine overhaul capacity and workload at the proposed Hyderabad Leap MRO facility. How vital will this step be in creating a sound MRO ecosystem in the country?

With 2,200 Leap engines on order in the region, Safran is building one of its largest MRO facilities in the world in Hyderabad. Construction of this €150 million (approximately $163 million) plant started late last year with the objective of being fully operational by 2025. We have already started hiring and training staff and continue to recruit engineers, technicians and operators.

The MRO shop will be the first of its kind opened by an OEM in India, putting India on the global MRO map. The MRO ecosystem is a major step toward achieving self-reliance in airline operations and developing the associated skills and training infrastructure. We will be developing synergies with the local aerospace ecosystem. Partnerships are currently being studied with local training organizations, such as the Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge and the GMR Group. Because of the high-volume commercial engine MRO business, India will be able to invest in high-tech equipment and training to foster the development of military engine MRO capabilities and the growth of a local supply chain for parts repair activities.

Last year’s memorandum of understanding between GE Aerospace and HAL on production of F414 engines in India entails almost 80% of transfer of jet engine technology by value. What is your opinion on technology transfer, and do you see similar deals in the near future for commercial aviation?

Safran Group has been a pioneer in technology transfer in India and has a successful history of fruitful cooperation with India in strategic domains such as space rocket engines, helicopter engines and inertial navigation technologies. Safran has collaborated with the Indian Space Research Organization, the Defense Research and Development Organization and defense public sector undertakings on multiple technologies like inertial navigation systems, sensors and turboshaft engines in past decades.

For commercial aviation, the demand will drive the decision. However, as with most OEMs, we have a globally integrated supply chain on commercial engines to drive multiple efficiencies. We are already setting up the largest Leap engine MRO shop in India. We source from our own plan and many other suppliers in India on parts for commercial engines. We will continue to look toward increasing the supply chain in the coming years as commercial aviation demand grows.