The 3rd edition of Emerging trends in MRO Industry [EAMRO 2024] organised by Aviakul at Seminar Hall, Indian Institute Technology Delhi [IIT Delhi] was a grand success. The conference was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Lt. Gen. Ajay Kumar Suri, AVSM (DG, Army Aviation Corps, Indian Army) and Guest of Honor GVG Yugandhar (DG, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Civil Aviation) and Pulak Sen (Founder & Secretary General, MRO Association of India) along with the event organizers, Andy Kotwani (Chairman, Aviakul Group of Companies) and Vaibhav Varun (Chairman, EAMRO).

The first panel discussion“Transformative technologies reshaping the MRO operations in the convergence of Civil and Military” was moderated by Col. K V. Kuber (Director – Aerospace and Defense, Ernst and Young LLP). Lt. Gen. Ajay Kumar Suri, AVSM spoke about the emerging trends in the MRO industry in terms of increasing supportive government policies and increasing participation of the private players in the industry, which is especially visible in the last 4-5 years. He indicated that in terms of Global Market share of MRO industry, which is about 100-billion-dollar, India’s share is a meager 2 per cent. And out of this, the helicopter MRO constitutes only 75-million-dollar market which simply means that there is a huge gap that needs to be filled. He also emphasized the importance of setting up framework for block chain technology.

AVM KAA Sanjeeb, VSM (Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Maintenance Plans), Indian Air Force) said that Air Force has 46 projects approximately that promote synergy between military and civil MRO and DIG Jamal Taha, TM (Principal Director (Air Material), Indian Coast Guard) touched upon the subject of synergy of aircraft operation amongst the three National Defense Forces. AM Sukhchain Singh (Retd.,) (Former Air Officer-in-charge Maintenance) talked about the upcoming technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Robotics, Additive manufacturing and also spoke about success story of the country in terms of LCA (Light Combat Aircrafts) and subsequent version of the LCA.

Bharat Malkani (Chairman, Max Aerospace and Aviation Limited) emphasized for synergy in communication systems, electrical systems and other similar components that are common to all aircraft. The panel also touched upon the issue of low budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The esteemed panelists in unison agreed to set up a task force of experts from defense, financial advisors, industry experts to frame up the policies.

Following the panel discussion, Ashutosh Sharma (Chief General Manager, Development, IFSCA) gave a presentation on “Future of IFSCA (International Financial Services Centre Authority) in Aviation & MRO Industry”. He emphasized creating an MRO ecosystem in IFSCA by synergizing the capacities of shipping, finance, regulatory bodies etc. inside the authority.

The second panel discussion on “ International Collaborations and Investments in Indian MRO” was moderated by Poonam Chawla (Associate Publisher, Air Cargo Update). The panelists dwelling upon the state of lagging behind MRO sector despite booming aviation industry, touched upon the issues of lack of credit facilities, not enough focus on big component MRO, poorly structured tax duties etc. The thorough discussion was facilitated by Cdr. Gautam Nanda (Associate Partner, Aerospace and Defense, KPMG India), Manan Jaisinghani (Associate VP, Invest India), Sandeep Bahl (Director, US-India Aviation Cooperation Program) Tejaswi Narasimhan (Advisor and Consultant, Aircraft sales and acquisition).

In the first fireside chat of the conference, “Emerging trends in Aircraft Material and Structural Integrity”, Ashwini Sharma (Visiting Faculty, Aerospace Engineering, Chandigarh University) spoke about composite material, coatings which can withstand harsh conditions and thermal imaging as the latest trends in aircraft materials. Gp. Capt. GVG Yugandhar gave examples of Aircraft structural integrity program and engine structural integrity program. He also highlighted the various studies conducted by the National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) on increasing the life of aircraft. Both the speakers empathized that India needs have concrete academic programs on metallurgy if we want to make our own engine in India.

The keynote lecture, “Role of Drones in MRO” by Aman Johri (CEO, Jatayu Unmanned systems) told the audience that human factor is a big challenge in MRO and to mitigate the risk at every level, the role of UAVs in MRO is critical. The labor in MRO sector is very huge and so is the scope of errors. He also informed that Jatayu Unmanned Systems introduced battlefield MRO, taking the reference from Ukraine war.

The second Fireside chat, “Circular Economy in Aviation MRO” was conducted between Bishnu Charan Behera, (Technical Advisor/ Consultant, Ministry of Civil Aviation) and Mangalam Pandey (Lead –Technical services, Air India Limited). They emphasized upon the importance of reusing and recycling of the resources in the MRO process.

The final feature presentation of the event was conducted by Akshay Kumar (Quality Manager, Autotrade Aviation. He demonstrated their expertise in providing comprehensive MRO Services.
Gp. Capt. Aurobindo Handa (Retd.), Former Director General, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India immensely contributed to the EAMRO Programme Agenda and giving its final shape.