Air Works to launch MRO in Karnataka

New Delhi, July 15 (UNI) Air Works India, a leading provider of aviation services, today announced its plans to launch a commercial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Hosur near Bangalore.

The company plans to invest an upward of 50 million dollars for setting up the infrastructure to support the commercial MRO initiative, a press statement said.

At present, Air Works MRO at Hosur has 8000 ft X 150 ft runway to accommodate the landing of all narrow and wide body aircraft.

The company plans to start operations by September with one existing hangar.

It will complete two additional hangers by year-end, designed to accommodate wide body aircraft, and another two more by end of 2009.

Being India's first third party commercial MRO, it will offer services such as airframe, engine and APU maintenance, aircraft paint shop, engine repair and overhaul, passenger to freighter conversion, and aircraft component repairs and spares.

It will support a wide variety of commercial aircraft certified to DGCA, FAA, and EASA standards, the statement said.

The company also announced the appointment of Fredrik Groth as its Chief Executive Officer. Mr Groth was earlier working as Director General of Swiftair--a privately owned Spanish airline ''Fredrik brings a deep understanding of airline customers and their market realities. It's time Air Works drew on his range of talents to head our business in India.'' Suresh Soni, Partner, Global Technology Investment said, while announcing the appointment.

Echoing his sentiments, Ravi Menon, Executive Vice President and founding director of Air Works said:''We are experiencing exponential growth in this area and Fredrik's experience in both commercial and MRO programs will provide Air Works the leadership and experience to be successful.'' Air Works has extensive experience in running India's largest MRO operation for jet and turboprop aircraft and helicopters, and was also involved in setting up Jet Airways' in-house MRO team in 1994.

In 2007, New York-based private investment firm Global Technology Investment and construction firm Punj Lloyd made growth equity investments in Air Works.

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