Air India partners with BACL to establish a facility for aircraft maintenance engineering
Tata-owned Air India has signed an agreement with Bengaluru Airport City Limited (BACL), a subsidiary of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), to establish a facility for Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME). The 86,000-square-foot campus, located at Bengaluru Airport City, is scheduled to become operational by mid-2026.
“The Basic Maintenance Training Organisation will establish a pipeline of skilled engineers trained to Air India standards from the outset,” said Sunil Bhaskaran, Director, Aviation Academy, Air India.
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The agreement is part of Air India’s plans to set up a basic maintenance training organisation (BMTO) to offer an integrated aircraft maintenance engineering (AME) program certified by the Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The programme is designed to meet Air India’s growing fleet maintenance requirements.
Transition journey
The Air India BMTO is a step towards building a robust, future-ready aviation ecosystem in India. It will serve the ambitions of the airline as it moves ahead in its transformation journey, strengthening the availability of aircraft maintenance engineers as Air India expands its fleet, making it self-reliant, the company said in a release.
Rao Munukutla, Executive Director & CEO, BACL, said, “The Air India BMTO reinforces our vision of developing a thriving ecosystem that drives innovation and collaboration.”
Recently, Air India, under its Vihaan AI programme , has seen the commitment of over 500 new aircraft, with deliveries already in progress. Other key announcements include a $400 million interior retrofit program for its older fleet and the in-housing of line maintenance operations across its group airlines to enhance self-reliance. In September 2024, the Air India Group also began constructing a mega MRO facility in Bengaluru.
