MRO Operations In Indian Aviation Market

MRO refers to the maintenance and repair operations of the aircraft. As everyone would acknowledge that it is not the cheap air tickets of the airlines but the safety and security of the passengers which is of paramount importance both to the passengers as well as the airlines, this makes role of MRO vitally important. It is due to the efforts of the dedicated MRO that the aircraft retain their airworthiness and are able to promise total security and safety to the customers. The Indian aviation market, which has grown leaps and bounds in the past few years banking on the strong foray of the LCCs such as Indigo, approved the setting up of dedicated MRO at Hosur for commercial  aircraft in 2008.

Pre-requisites of MRO

You certainly do not set up an MRO for a few aircraft since it will become prohibitively expensive and unviable. So, for setting up a dedicated and world class MRO, it is important to have some critical mass of the aircraft or a minimum fleet of aircraft. This will ensure that there is sufficient work on regular basis for the MRO people so that there is no time loss and the costs of maintenance and repair work are kept at optimal levels. India has developed its current fleet in a short span of time in the last few years only and this has now reached that stage where the MRO services can be used most efficiently.

Further, it is also required that the aircraft shall also need the maintenance and repair works. And, this happens when the aircraft are sufficient old. Since India has a relatively young and new fleet of aircraft, there is not much of maintenance work required. However, as the time progresses and the fleet becomes old, it become important to get the regular MRO done.

The third important requirement for the MRO is that of reasonably priced infrastructure which includes the hangar space for the aircraft. This also requires continuous training of the aircraft maintenance professionals and giving them the technical knowhow of the aircraft maintenance. The element of price is foremost consideration since an overly dear price will ultimately be charged to the airfares of the airlines and the cheap international flights from India might get costlier for the customers. LCCs such as Go Indigo might also require to increase their airfares due to additional MRO requirements of an ageing fleet in future.