Boeing to invest $185mn in MRO, training centre

After bagging aircraft orders worth about $20 billion from India, US major Boeing today announced its commitment to invest almost $185 million to develop aviation-related projects and facilities in the country.

Announcing that his company was also committed to invest a total of $1.7 billion in offsets, Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president (sales), Boeing Commercial Airplanes', said the firm would invest up to $100 million for a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Nagpur, and up to $75 million for a flight crew training centre and $10 million for initial pilot training.

He said on the sidelines of the Aero India show here that there was a tremendous opportunity for Boeing and Indian companies to work together on a multitude of projects and business initiatives, especially the shortage of pilots, airport capacity management and creation of a large skilled maintenance workforce and MRO facilities.

Keskar said Boeing was eyeing the domestic air cargo sector, which had expanded at an average annual growth rate of over 10%.