Monday, May 26, 2008

Take-off signal for Boeing Nagpur facility XCLUSIVE

The Telegraph, Mumbai, Aug 29, 2007
Source
Boeing Company has made good its first investment commitment in India as part of the Air-India aircraft order to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Nagpur for $100 million.
This is part of the US aerospace firm’s $185 million worth of investments, in the negotiation for the final price for Air-India’s order of 68 aircraft costing $10.7 billion, the country’s single biggest civilian aircraft agreement ever in value terms as well as number of planes.
Apart from the MRO, the investment includes $75 million for pilot training academy and training and other civil aviation requirements worth $10 million.
“The work on the Nagpur facility will begin by next two weeks,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales) of Boeing Company. Boeing had received proposals from six Indian states including West Bengal and Karnataka for the facility.
“The MRO will be spread over 25 acres belonging to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). AAI will transfer the land to Maharashtra Airport Development Authority (MADC), close to the international passenger and cargo hub being developed at the same destination. MADC will hold 51 per cent stake in the venture while the rest will be owned by AAI,” said Praful Patel, union minister of civil aviation.
Boeing is already developing an MRO in Shanghai, which is likely to be operational by 2008.
It is also exploring the possibilities of including joint venture partners for the project including the local airlines and has invited Air-India as a possible partner.
“We are keen on partnering Boeing in the project, however, the board is yet to take a final decision on the matter, which would then have to be ratified by the government,” said V. Thulasidas, chairman and managing director of Air- India.
According to a recent Boeing study, the Indian aviation sector would need 856 commercial planes with an estimated investment of $72 billion in the next 20 years to maintain its record growth of 20 per cent in 2005.
“From last year to this year, we have doubled our forecast,” said Keskar.
The Chicago-based firm also said it saw a considerable increase in India’s air freight market as exports were estimated to grow at 5 to 6 per cent a year until 2016.
“The government is considering some special incentives for firms which will invest in developing Nagpur as an international passenger and cargo hub for the country’s aviation industry. We will include these in the new civil aviation polity,” said Patel.


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