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NT Bureau
Chennai, Mar 23:

        National carrier Indian has signed an agreement for the setting-up of an MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility for airframe services of its fleet of aircraft.

        Aircraft manufacturer Airbus Industries, a part of the global consortium of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), has authorised the Bangalore-based Jupiter Aviation and Logistics to enter into a joint venture with Indian to set up the facility. EADS would provide the necessary technical and support services to this venture.

        Earlier, in February EADS had signed an MoU with Jupiter Aviation and Logistics to collaborate in aviation ventures focusing on aircraft lifecycle, its support and training, which would cover MRO facility.

        A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in Delhi yesterday for setting up of MRO facility, initially to cover Airbus A320s. Indian is a major operator of Airbus aircraft and will shortly induct 42 new A320s into its fleet. Currently, it operates 48 A320s, 6 A319 and 3 A300 aircraft for daily services. The MoU was signed at Indian's corporate office between its chairman and managing director Vishwapati Trivedi and Jupiter Aviation CEO and MD Ravi Narayanan. Speaking after the sign-in function, Trivedi said, 'this is first of a kind joint venture, Airframe MRO, in the country, which has a growing aviation market. With the setting up of this facility, Indian will see an increased availability of aircraft following a nearly fifty per cent reduction in check-in times for maintenance and overhaul. Besides catering to our Airbus aircraft, the facility will also be available to attract other airline jobs, thus not only leading to savings but also generate earnings for the company.'

        Under the agreement, the joint venture firm will undertake airframe maintenance, overhaul and repair of Airbus aircraft of Indian to begin with. Later, it will extend the facility to Airbus aircraft of other airlines and also to aircraft other than Airbus family. 'This public-private partnership is a milestone, being the first of its kind in the MRO field. The growth in the aviation sector is creating the need for world-class providers of services and we think our partnership will deliver the same to Indian,' said Narayanan.

        Rajeev Chandrasekhar, chairman and CEO, Jupiter Aviation, Yves Guillaume, CEO, EADS India and Kiran Rao, vice president, Airbus, were also present at the sign-in ceremony for the MRO venture.