Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Aircraft maintenance base work from March 1

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Civil works on the Rs. 70-crore aircraft maintenance base, a joint venture of Air India and the U.S.-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing here, will start on March 1.

The base is being set up near the upcoming world-class international terminal of the airport.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will kick off the works at a function on the project site at Chakka. Vasudevan Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director of National Aviation Company of India Ltd., and top officials of Air India and the State government will participate.

The State government has given 6.07 hectares of land free to Air India for the project. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the base in November 2006.

Delay in demolishing the buildings of Trivandrum Rubber Works and other structures on the land was the main hurdle in starting work. The project is fully funded by Air India.

At a press conference here on Saturday night, H.A. Munaff, Manager, Air India, Thiruvananthapuram, said the first phase of the base would be completed in 12 months and the second in six months.

Shifting of heavy machinery from Trivandrum Rubber Works and the demolition of buildings are in full swing and will be completed by February-end, he said. The base will take care of the day-to-day line maintenance of Boeing 737-800 aircraft used by Air-India Express, the no-frills airline of Air India.

The airline hopes that more airlines from India and abroad, especially the Gulf countries, will arrive in the capital once the base is commissioned. Mr. Munaff said maintenance of other Boeing aircraft would be carried out in the base in the later stages.

The aircraft maintenance base will be a big boost to the travel trade and aviation and hospitality sectors here and also the capital once aircraft start arriving for periodic line maintenance.

The national carrier has decided to make the international airport here a base for Air-India Express operations to Gulf destinations. Mr. Munaff said two aircraft would be stationed at the airport on Wednesday and Saturday from this week.

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