The under-construction airport in Noida, outside of New Delhi, is slated to be the largest in the country once completed, and big things are expected from it. Not only is it being viewed as the future hub for major Indian airlines, but now the road has been cleared to develop it as a significant maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in.
State cabinet gives the go-ahead
On Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet – the state where the airport is being built – gave its nod of approval to the MRO policy so that process of setting up the facility at the Noida international airport in Jewar could be expedited.
The Yamuna International Private Limited – the special purpose vehicle formed for the development of the airport – will work on the facility, which will be set up on 40 acres of land as part of the work done in phase one of the airport construction.
Arun Vir Singh, CEO of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), said that Zurich AG – which is developing the airport in a public-private partnership model – is in talks with several companies to build the MRO facility at the airport.
The first of the two MROs is expected to become functional by September 2024, around the same time when the airport will become operational. The second MRO facility will be even bigger, built on 1,365 acres of land, and has a completion deadline of 2025.
Together, the two MRO projects will cost around $10 billion and provide employment to more than 60,000 people.
MRO push in India
Last year, India’s aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced key changes in MRO policy to attract investment. He lamented that India only holds a tiny 2.5% share of the mammoth $80 billion global aircraft maintenance industry.
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Some of the proposed changes included leasing land through open tenders, allocating land for MRO for 30 years instead of the current 3 to 5 years, and removing the 13% turnover royalty charged by the Airports Authority of India.
The Indian MRO industry is worth $2 billion annually. Of this, only 16% of the business is handled locally. Within the MRO services, the engine and aircraft component maintenance, in particular, is quite lucrative, and the government wants to develop these facilities in the country.
About the airport
The Noida airport lies southeast of central Delhi, Gurgaon, and Noida and is almost at the halfway point to Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal. The new development is around 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the current Delhi Airport and 85 kilometers (52 miles) from the city center.
The project is being worked upon in phases. The first phase, set to open in September 2024, will see the construction of two runways and a terminal for 12 million travelers. By the fourth phase, the airport is hoping to gain 70 million yearly passengers and six active runways, the most in the country.
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Source: The Times of India