Tata Group, the conglomerate parent company of Air India, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Karnataka to establish an MRO facility at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport.
The MRO investment stands at around INR 1300 crore Indian Rupees ($156.8 million) and the facility will be operated by Air India, which Tata Group acquired in October 2021. The hangar will be another addition to a planned MRO hub in Bengaluru located in India’s southern region.
The planned MRO facility will focus on airframe maintenance progressing through the development of widebody and narrowbody hangars for all checks, including heavy structural checks, according to a joint statement issued by Tata Group and the regional government. Officials from both parties were present on Monday (Feb. 19) at the signing of the MoU.
Once open at a date yet to be disclosed, the facility is expected to generate 1,200 highly skilled aircraft maintenance jobs in the state.
The Tata Group has four airlines under its umbrella: Air India, AirAsia India, Vistara and Air India Express.
Nipun Agarwal, Air India’s chief commercial officer, says investment is part of the airline’s efforts to become more self-reliant in maintaining its own fleet. “This initiative will further strengthen India’s aviation infrastructure by boosting the growth of the country’s MRO industry,” Agarwal adds.
Apart from an MRO facility, Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), the aerospace arm of Tata Group, also announced plans to set up three projects in Bengaluru. Under the first project, TASL will establish a passenger-to-freighter (PTF) aircraft conversion facility with an investment of INR 420 crore ($50.6 million). The second project involves the construction of an aerospace and defense research and development (R&D) center in Karnataka with an investment of INR 300 crore ($36.1 million).
These ventures are expected to generate over 450 highly skilled employment opportunities in the state, TASL says. The total investment by the group, comprising the MRO facility, PTF conversion center and aerospace R&D center, comes to INR 2300 crore ($277 million).
The MRO facility plans come against the backdrop of Air India’s plans to increase its presence and connectivity in Bengaluru by scaling its direct connectivity to various global destinations on one end and aggregating traffic from Southern India on the other end.
