Indian Airlines Push for Domestic MRO Capabilities Amid Rapid Fleet Expansion

Indian carriers are accelerating efforts to build domestic maintenance, repair, and overhaul capabilities as the country's commercial aircraft fleet continues to grow. Industry leaders at a recent conference highlighted the urgent need for self-reliance to manage capacity constraints and meet rising air traffic demand.

Indian airlines are increasingly focusing on strengthening domestic maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) capabilities to support their expanding aircraft fleets. As one of the world's fastest-growing civil aviation markets, India's commercial aircraft fleet is currently around 800 and is expected to double in the coming years. Furthermore, projections indicate the fleet could triple in size to 2,250 over the next decade.

To support this growth, the market for airframes, engines, and components in India is projected to triple to USD 9.5 billion by 2035. Speaking at the Aviation India and South Asia 2026 conference in New Delhi, senior aviation executives emphasized that current capacity constraints require carriers to develop robust in-house and domestic MRO solutions.

Jeremy Yew, SVP Engineering & Maintenance at Air India, noted that recent regional challenges exposed vulnerabilities when the airline sought to send wide-body aircraft for maintenance to West Asia. Currently, most detailed MRO work for wide-body aircraft is handled overseas. Yew stated that the airline is evaluating how much work can be brought in-house while maintaining partnerships with independent MROs, provided commercials, quality, and safety standards align. Air India, which has over 540 planes scheduled for delivery in the coming years, expects to establish its MRO facility in Bengaluru by the end of 2027.

Echoing similar views, IndiGo’s SVP Engineering & Maintenance, Parichay Datta, stressed that airlines have little choice but to pursue self-reliance given the differing growth rates of airline fleets and MRO infrastructure. While operational complexities exist, Datta pointed out that expanding domestic facilities will help mitigate these challenges.

Meanwhile, Akasa Air’s Senior Vice President Maintenance & Engineering, Daniel Saldanha, shared that the airline's MRO facility at Noida airport is slated to be ready by 2028. Representatives from independent and state-owned MRO players, including GMR Aero Technic, AI Engineering Services Ltd, Airworks, and Max Aerospace, also participated in the discussions, underlining the commercial growth potential and the necessity of enhancing domestic technical capabilities.

"The push by Indian carriers toward domestic MRO self-reliance is a critical business imperative driven by rapid fleet expansion and global supply chain vulnerabilities. As the commercial aviation market scales significantly over the next decade, building robust local maintenance infrastructure will not only reduce dependency on overseas facilities but also create substantial economic value and high-skill employment opportunities within India's aerospace sector." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes