By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Oct 26:
Due to paucity of funds and bottlenecks arising out of covid-19 induced lock down an Air India Boeing has remained unrepaired at Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nagpur for the last 10 months.
The Boeing 777 which was to proceed on an overseas flight from Delhi in January was diverted to Nagpur for major repairs. However it remained unrepaired due to want of some of the spare parts, which had to be imported. But required parts could not be imported due to heavy expenditure involved and also due to subsequent discontinuation of international flights following the pandemic.
Since now the considerable time has passed by and the aircraft remained static, the cost of repairs are certain to increase. The MRO at MIHAN area has the best overhaul and repair facilities, but the problem of vital spare parts remains unsolved.
MRO was set up in April 2015, at the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of the Multi Modal International Passenger and Cargo Hub in Nagpur, near Nagpur airport. MRO is being run by the Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL). It has 2.6km taxiway connecting the facility to the airport.
The Nagpur MRO facility, fully built by Boeing and spread over 50 acres, is the offshoot of an agreement between Air India and Boeing, signed when the Air India had placed a mega order for 68 Boeing aircrafts with the US company in 2006, when Praful Patel was the Union Minister for Civil Aviation. Boeing later withdrew from the agreement, saying the project was unfeasible. However, it financed the setting up of the infrastructure of the facility and handed it over to Air India.
