" MRO sector should be treated as infrastructure industry... "

Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) is India's biggest DGCA approved MRO having Pan-India presence. The MRO caters to majority of the needs of Indian carriers as well as few foreign carriers. In an exclusive interview, Sharad Agarwal, CEO, AIESL speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World about the projects they handle, future plans looking into the growth potential, taxation and insights on building a robust MRO ecosystem in India. Sharing the excerpts...

- 

Q: What is the current status of AIESL and type of projects you cater to and what are the plans ahead?

A: AIESL is the only MRO in India which is in all four MRO segments. At present, we have been supporting Air India and other airlines for aircraft right from ATR-72, the A320s, Boeing 737, 777 and 787 and also 747. In last, as the country is getting MAX aircraft in a big way, we have enhanced our capability and today we are capable of even doing 12-year check on MAX aircraft. In future, first of all, we are concentrating on engines. We intend to doing some job on the biggest engine which is coming into India.

Q: There is an supply chain issue with engines worldwide and the pressure is much on the MRO side as well. So, how you are managing this situation?

A: First of all, we cannot do any engine job without an OEM giving us a support. So OEM has to support us with the manuals, the spares, and if it is the first time we are doing a job, the training of some of the people. We are in touch and we have identified some problem areas which are a pain point for the both engine manufacturer and also the airlines. We are concentrating on supporting the OEMs to give airlines a quick turnaround time and we are very sure that we will be succeeding in that.

Q: At present, can you name some of the airlines that is under your umbrella for which maintenance AIESL does?

A: In fact, within India every single major airlines, we have done some work or other. Besides that, last year there was a big news about Kuwait Airlines. We did a number of base checks on those aircraft. We are in touch with different airlines all over India, all over the world and we are keen to do it.