Duke Aviation launches India's first independent MRO Facility in Nagpur

Mumbai: Duke Aviation Engineering Pvt Ltd, India's first independent MRO facility provider, today announced the official launch of its MRO facility in MIHAN-SEZ, Nagpur. Mr. SC Jamir,
Honourable Governor of Maharashtra laid the foundation stone of the facility in a ceremony that was held today signifying the beginning of construction. Other dignitaries present at the function were Mr. Praful Patel, Civil Aviation Minister, Mr. Anees Ahmed, State Textiles Minister, Mr. Gopinath Munde, General Secretary, BJP, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, BJP State President and Mr. R C Sinha, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, MADC.
Duke Aviation is the first company in India to launch an independent state of the art MRO facility being established in the SEZ of MIHAN at Nagpur that will offer end-to-end services to aircraft operators. While its first facility will be functional by early 2010, the remaining
facilities will be fully functional in coming 24-36 months.
Duke Aviation has been allotted 36.5 acres of land for the project by Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and will invest close to USD 145.840 million (Rs 725 crores). The facility is expected to create more than 400 jobs by 2012.
Commenting on state of the art facility, Mr. Ajit Karnik, MD & CEO, Duke Aviation Engineering Pvt Ltd said, "Due to lack of appropriate facilities in India, today aircraft operators depend on foreign agencies for aircraft heavy maintenance and servicing. Our strategy is to provide
one-stop-shop at very competitive man-hour rates, as any savings on this front will translate into profits for these operators."
"Currently we have based our financial model on domestic market but since India is a convenient and cost efficient location for operators in Europe and Asia Pacific, we will also be catering to these geographies," Mr. Karnik further added.
Mr. Stanton Dodson, Chairman of Duke Aviation & Founder and Managing Partner of Duke Equity said, "Duke Equity, sister concern of Duke Aviation, along with the promoters and other high networth individuals will be investing 50% in Duke Aviation and rest will come through term loan."
In 2004 the global MRO industry stood at $37 billion and is expected to reach $41.8 billion by end of 2009. The Asian MRO industry is growing at the rate of 5.7 % and is expected to reach about $14 billion by 2013. Of total airline expenditure, aircraft operators spend almost 13% on
aircraft maintenance and servicing.
10/02/09 PRESS RELEASE/Duke Aviation Engineering

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2009, New Feb 2009