Air Works, India’s largest independent MRO and aviation services and solutions major company has handed over the last of the six P-8I maritime patrol aircraft to the Indian Navy. The delivery was done after the successful completion of Phase 32 maintenance checks to Boeing and the Indian Navy. The heavy maintenance of these P-8I aircraft was successfully completed at the Air Works facility at Hosur, Tamil Nadu. The delivery of the P-8I highlights the competencies of civil MROs to support defense maintenance and the need for ‘Maintain-in-India’ to be accorded equal significance as ‘Make-in-India’ .
Air Works had signed a strategic collaboration with Boeing in 2021 for the MRO of two critical Boeing defence platforms in India – the P-8I operated by the Indian Navy (IN) and the VIP transport fleet (BBJ) that is operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF). Under this collaboration, three P-8Is had already undergone maintenance at Air Works and three more were simultaneously inducted in early 2022 intensifying the complexity of the entire project.
Commenting on the milestone, Mr. D Anand Bhaskar, Managing Director & CEO, Air Works Group said, “We are grateful to both Boeing and the Indian Navy for their trust in Air Works to deliver on such a unique and mission-critical project for the very first time in the country. Not only has every successful inspection increased our confidence of managing such intricate and specialized projects on behalf of our defense forces, but the fact that we have been able to value add with our ingenuity and decades-long experience to enhance the quality of maintenance of these premium assets, has particularly boosted our motivation and self-assurance. This is an incredibly proud moment for the everyone at Air Works, especially the P-8I project team – who have transformed their ardent passion into a brilliant outcome, and we look forward to expanding our collaboration horizon.”