Boeing pushes Nagpur MRO amidst plan for massive job cuts
31 Jan 2009
Boeing today signed a lease agreement with Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) for setting up a $100 million maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility even as the US aircraft major announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide this year.
Boeing is setting up the MRO as a joint venture with India's national carrier Air India and MADC, a government agency, which will provide the land.
''We have finally signed the necessary papers to live up to the promise made in 2006 that Boeing will have its world's second MRO with Air India as partner in the city,'' Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Boeing, said., adding, ''Hopefully, the facility would be functional by end of 2010.''
The facility has taken on lease 50 acres of land near Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport which operates the Multi-modal International Passenger and Cargo Hub, Nagpur (MIHAN), he said.
Construction of hangars will start by end of the current fiscal. The facility will accommodate two wide-bodied or four medium-bodied aircraft for maintenance and repairs, Keskar said.
Boeing, meanwhile, announced plans for job cuts while declaring its annual financial results a few days ago. Keskar, however, ruled out any job cuts in India for now.
Keskar said Boeing still has orders for supplying 3,700 aircraft, worth $275 billion, to various airlines across the world. It will take at least five years for the company to fulfil the business commitment.
Boeing has a workforce of 1.76 lakh worldwide in various segments, he said.
