Hyderabad firm to host fourth global facility for conversion of Boeing passenger jets to cargo planes

In a significant boost to India’s aviation sector, GMR Aero Technic (GAT), the maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) subsidiary of the airports to energy conglomerate GMR Group has secured a Boeing order for the conversion of passenger aircraft to freighters.

GAT has won an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Boeing Global Services (BGS) contract to convert the Chicago-headquartered US plane maker’s bestselling B737-800 aircraft into a 737-800BCF configuration.

BCF means a Boeing Converted Freighter and GAT is the first Indian company to be selected for the job. The partnership will support conversions of both domestic and foreign aircraft, the GMR group said in a statement Friday.

An aviation or aircraft MRO is a company specialising in performing maintenance actions on aircraft and their components such as jet engines and landing gear.

Based at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, GAT is an airframe MRO facility. The company has approvals from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and several other international agencies. It will be the fourth location after China, the UK and Costa Rica to perform freighter conversion work on the B737s.

CEO GAT Ashok Gopinath said, “With the rise in the Indian aviation industry, MRO services in India has been one of the fastest-growing markets globally. The partnership with Boeing reaffirms our capability to provide world-class MRO services and further contribute to the [government’s] ‘Make in India’ initiative.”

President Boeing India, Salil Gupte observed, “Our cooperation with GMR Aero Technic is not only a testimony of the maturation of Indian MROs in the country to support the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), but also supports the anticipated growth of the cargo sector in the region.”

Beginning in 2023, GAT will be undertaking the conversion of more than 30 B737-800 aircraft across multiple lines for the next five years.

GAT bagged the contract through a global competitive request for proposal (RFP) bid announced by Boeing to identify potential MROs for their B737BCF programme. The company was chosen following detailed due diligence conducted by Boeing Corp.

Given the anticipated growth in aircraft fleet, the global demand for MRO services is expected to reach $117 billion by 2031, an increase of 70 per cent from $68.5 billion in 2021 in the four verticals of engines, airframes, components and line maintenance.

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