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Hyderabad: GMR Aero Technic & Boeing to set up freighter conversion facility for 737 passenger planes
GMR Aero Technic & Boeing to set up freighter conversion facility for 737 passenger planes
- The conversion line, which will be at GMR Aero Technic’s airframe maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, will cater to the demand for narrow-body freighters in India
- Boeing and GMR Aero Technic did not give details of the likely investment for the project or the production capacity
Hyderabad: The American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has tied up with GMR Aero Technic to establish a facility in Hyderabad for converting Boeing 737 passenger aircraft into freighters. The conversion line, which will be at GMR Aero Technic's airframe maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, will cater to the demand for narrow-body freighters in India and nearby regions in Asia and Africa.
The announcement ahead of Air India's mega order to Boeing and Airbus, with the latter bagging a firm order for 220 passenger jets. Boeing is trying to make inroads into India, one of the top aviation markets globally, and is investing in segments like supply chain sourcing and logistics as well.
Boeing and GMR Aero Technic did not give details of the likely investment for the project or the production capacity. Senior executives at both companies said that they were working on the finalisation and operationalisation of the conversion line, which would take around 18 months.
"To begin with, we will use one of our existing lines for this purpose. We are open to adding an additional line as well in the future, depending on demand," GMR Aero Technic's Chief Executive Officer Ashok Gopinath told the media. He said that while the facility will initially be for narrow-body 737 planes, GMR Aero Technic was open to a similar opportunity in the wide-body segment as well "as and when demand is there".
A converted freighter is usually a mid-life passenger aircraft that is converted into a cargo plane. Although Boeing manufactures freighter versions of various aircraft, all of those are in the wide-body segment. The 737– one of the most popular single-aisle aircraft globally — is manufactured only as a passenger jet, which means that it has to be converted to be used as a freighter. The demand for narrowbody freighters has been on the rise as ferrying of cargo by air is picking up, particularly on short to medium-haul routes in regions like Asia and Africa.
As per Boeing's commercial market outlook, India's air cargo growth is expected to average 6.3 per cent annually, driven by the country's manufacturing and e-commerce sectors. Boeing India president Salil Gupte said that India is an air cargo market "whose time has come".
He said that globally, there would be a demand for around 1,200 converted narrow-body freighters over the next 20 years, and around half of these would be in Asia and Africa. Gupte said that given the growth of sectors like e-commerce and electronics manufacturing in India, the country could end up with a large number of converted narrow-body freighters.
