Thales- Driving Self-Reliance in Aviation

India's fast-growing MRO sector is creating strong demand for advanced avionics support, and Thales' new facility near New Delhi is stepping in to meet it. Since opening in March 2025, the centre has rapidly scaled to serve major airlines, including an 11-year IndiGo contract covering current and future A320 family aircraft. ANKUR KANAGLEKAR, Vice-President (India), Thales, explains how the company is strengthening India's path toward aviation self-reliance.

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How does Thales' new Gurugram avionics MRO and long-term IndiGo contract advance India's goal of aviation self-reliance?

India is emerging as a global MRO hub with the industry projected to reach $4 billion by 2031. Based on our expertise as a global leader in the aerospace industry, Thales' new avionics MRO facility near New Delhi airport provides premium support and services to airlines in India. Since its launch in March 2025, the MRO Centre has been gaining momentum, delivering strong performance to meet the growing demand from airline customers across the region. As we signed an 11-year maintenance contract with IndiGo for the airline's current fleet of A320 aircraft and future order of over 800 A32X aircraft, the MRO centre is currently focusing on the repair of critical, high-volume avionics components for the Airbus A320 family, while also supporting major service contracts with leading airlines in India. We remain focused on further increasing the centre's capacity and broadening its certification scope to support India's goal of achieving self-reliance in aviation.

How is AvioBook improving crew efficiency, safety, and digitalisation compared to traditional flight operations?

IndiGo extended a 5-year contract with AvioBook, a Thales company, for AvioBook Flight, marking a significant advancement in ensuring safer, more efficient, and sustainable air travel. As the only Electronic Flight Bag solution currently authorised for paperless operations by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), AvioBook has been deployed across IndiGo's entire fleet for over a year. The solution has played a key role in significantly reducing annual paper consumption, supporting IndiGo's sustainability goals and streamlining flight operations on over 2,000 flights every day.