Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Government to provide land for aircraft unit soon

Staff Reporter

Engineering base estimated to cost Rs.50 crores

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government will expedite steps to hand over land to set up an aircraft engineering base for Boeing 737-800 aircraft here, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said.

Mr. Achuthanandan, who held talks with Air-India chairman and managing director V. Thulasidas here on Wednesday, said 6.07 hectares would be provided for the base without affecting the development of the airport. The Government would hold discussions with the persons concerned to secure the land and a decision to hand over the land would be taken at the earliest, he said.

Air-India plans to set up the engineering base at an estimated cost of Rs.50 crores.

The State Government had given a commitment to the Air-India management in August last to provide land for the base. The Government had already acquired 10.92 hectares for the development of the airport terminal on the city side and had handed it over to the Airports Authority of India.

The AI management had requested to provide land for the base from the acquired 10.92 hectares. However, the Government said the land for the proposed engineering base would be provided from the land to be acquired for airport development.

The base would be set up by Air India Engineering Services, a subsidiary of Air-India.

The decision to set up the base in the vicinity of Thiruvananthapuram international airport was taken as Mumbai, the present maintenance base, was over saturated.

With more 737-800 aircraft joining the fleet, Air-India expects more aircraft of the same series to turn around from the premier international airport of the State.

The 737-800 aircraft, with a capacity of 181 economy seats, has been deployed for the operations of Air India Express, the no-frills airline of AI, to the Gulf sector.

The Air-India management had also cleared the proposal to set up another engineering base in Delhi to take care of periodic maintenance of aircraft.

Law Minister M. Vijayakumar and Air-India manager H.A.Munaff also attended the discussion held at the Chief Minister's chamber.

Meanwhile, Pannian Ravindran, MP, who held talks with Mr. Thulasidas, said the latter had promised that the maintenance base would not be shifted from the capital.

The delay in handing over land had affected the construction of the base. Mr. Thulasidas has also assured Mr. Ravindran of starting more flights to the Gulf sector and other destinations too.

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