Tirupati airport to become MRO hub

Tirupati: At a time when India is emerging as the third largest aviation market in the world, the Ministry of Civil Aviation wanted to capitalise on the enormous potential of the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sector.

Identifying the potential of the spiritual city, the Union government has designated it out of the eight airports (Chandigarh, Delhi, Begumpet, Juhu in Mumbai, Bhopal, Chennai and Kolkata are the other seven) in the country for the development of MRO infrastructure. More importantly, this infrastructure will be developed at Tirupati airport in the first phase itself, thanks to the initiative of MP Dr M Gurumoorthy.

The government of India has developed an aggressive plan to ensure the growth momentum the aviation industry was experiencing after a break during the Covid pandemic, is not interrupted. From 604 in 2019, India's commercial aircraft fleet is projected to rise to 1,547 by 2029 with the bulk of the expansion concentrated in the narrow-body jets segment. There comes the need for increase in MRO spending by the aviation industry as it is key in increasing the life span of aircrafts.

The MRO ecosystem includes large OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), MRO service providers, parts vendors and aerospace parts and spares manufacturers. The factors reshaping Tirupati into MRO hub include growing air traffic and demand, advantageous geographical location, workforce availability, ancillary industry support among other things.

The number of passengers and planes moving through Tirupati airport has also correspondingly increased, from 6,57,193 in 2017-18 to 8,34,660 in 2019-2020. This is in line with India's domestic air traffic. After the pandemic also, there has been a significant rise in demand for flights to Tirupati, making it an attractive destination for airlines.

MRO services at Tirupati can serve existing traffic and share the load of the new fleet deployed by airlines to cater to increasing demand. The Ministry felt that Tirupati MRO can capture the domestic market that currently outsources MRO services. For instance, Indigo relocated its fleet of over 200 Airbus A320 aircraft to the Philippines or Malaysia for extensive checks while some other airlines rely on China and other locations.

The Invest India meet held at Hyderabad on Thursday, showcased Tirupati airport's potential as a MRO hub for aircraft servicing. Tirupati MP Dr M Gurumoorthy launched the feasibility report on this occasion and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia for identifying the immense potential of the temple city which is well connected with the rest of the country in terms of air connectivity.

He said that the land acquisition for the proposed MRO facility at the Tirupati airport is nearing completion. While 1,041.83 acres of land is already available, 14.13 more acres of land is being acquired. A 20 acre-cargo facility is also proposed under the Krishi Udan scheme to be established by the AAICLAS.

At the investors' meeting, several investors have shown interest in investing in the MRO facility and the Central government has also agreed to take it up in the first phase itself though originally it was scheduled for the second phase.