GDC Technics has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") with Air India Engineering Services Limited ("AIESL") to form a long-term strategic alliance partnership in order to pursue MRO and modification opportunities for both the country's flag carrier, Air India, and other commercial aircraft throughout the region.
According to the agreement, GDC will offer engineering and certification services while AIESL will provide the labor, equipment and facilities necessary to carry out MRO and modification services in accordance with FAA, EASA and DGCA regulations.
Recently, a GDC Technics RAMS team was dispatched to India to complete modification work at an AIESL facility. Also, GDC Technics is capable of offering RAMS teams to conduct work at all AIESL facilities throughout India, including the recently completed $100M Nagpur facility, offering operators and lessors a diverse network of locations across the country to take aircraft for quick turnaround and availability.
The Indian and greater Asia Pacific markets which are ever-expanding provide an opportunity for not only AIESL to grow its already elaborate MRO capabilities to aircraft beyond just the Air India fleet, but also for GDC to expand its offerings for modification and engineering services- including cabin refurbishments, reconfigurations, as well as connectivity and IFE upgrades, complementing GDC Technics's new strategic vision.
"This LOI is the start of a long-term partnership with AIESL to provide customers in the region a wide variety of services to support the expanding fleet of aircraft in the region," said Brad Foreman, CEO of GDC. "AIESL's unmatched workforce, facilities, and attention to quality make them a great partner for GDC, which continues to expand its offerings beyond VIP aircraft to customers in locations around the world."
"GDC's significant engineering and certification experience under both EASA and FAA authorities allows for a great partnership with AISEL, further expanding our ability to service customers with maintenance and modification services in the region, with the quality of workmanship AISEL is known for," said H.R. Jagannath, CEO of AISEL.
This partnership between Air India and GDC Technics has been set up as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" programme, will be ideally placed to provide maintenance, modifications, and engineering services to this expanding fleet while also creating thousands of job opportunities.