Page 22 - AAA SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2018 Online Magazine

INTERVIEW: AAR
IN GROWTH

MODE

Colin Gregory, AAR Vice Q&A
President of Sales –
Asia Pacific Region

U.S. MRO provider AAR, which has
been busy boosting its global pres-
ence and diversifying its services,
wants to grow its global footprint share our expertise and grow our
even further with the help of strong global footprint, but we feel it is
local partners. In February this year, important to find strong local part-
the company, which already has a ners to ensure the success of the
sizable presence in Asia, announced business.” With the center of gravity
a joint venture with Indamer Aviation of the aviation industry
in India for the development of a Tell us more about the moving toward Asia, do
new MRO facility in Nagpur, which joint venture for air- you see the company
is slated to open by the end of the frame maintenance with expanding further in the
year. The company is always on the Indamer Aviation? region?
lookout for growth opportunities in The new MRO facility, a joint ven- AAR has always looked at Asia as a
the Asian region that align with its ture with Indamer Aviation, a leading key region for growth, with offices in
growth strategy and capabilities, aviation company in India, for the Singapore, Shanghai, Australia and
Colin Gregory, AAR Vice President development of a new airframe Japan. We offer a variety of after-
of Sales – Asia Pacific Region, tells maintenance, repair and over- market solutions like warehousing,
Arun Sivasankaran in an interview. haul facility in Nagpur, is already parts supply, and Engineering
under construction. It will initially Services for interior modifications
Edited excerpts from the interview: be comprised of six narrow-body for Asian airlines and MROs in the
bays, including one bay for paint. region. We are always looking for
You have been on some- Additional phases are planned for growth in the region. APAC is very
thing of an expansion a total of 16 bays, as well as com- important to AAR’s growth strategy.
spree internationally. Is it ponent repair shops. In recent years, AAR has expanded
set to continue? its capabilities in the region and
Local connections are important The MRO will serve India’s recently signed a contract to sup-
but global reach is necessary to fast-growing commercial aviation port of Air New Zealand’s expanding
ensure growth. We have a global market and is scheduled to open fleet.
presence with the AAR Landing by year’s end with FAA, EASA and
Gear Services joint venture with a DGCA certifications. Fully aligned What is the company’s
Malaysian MRO provider near Kuala with the ‘Make In India’ initiative, the commercial aviation/mil-
Lumpur’s Subang Airport. The com- facility will employ Indian nation- itary aviation business
ponent repair facility in New York is als, including some of the existing split? How much has it
mirrored in Amsterdam, while our Indamer workforce. A training changed in recent years?
subsidiary Airinmar in the UK offers school under Indamer’s CAR 147 Our market solutions are offered at
repair cycle management services. certification and the Government of more than 60 locations tailored to
More recently, we added to our India’s Skill Development Program commercial and non-commercial
North American MRO network by will allow hundreds of students to operators. Currently the split is 75%
acquiring two Canadian facilities gain skill sets and employment in commercial, 25% non-commercial
from Premier Aviation. There is Nagpur. The initial group of stu- business.
also the joint venture with Indamer dents will receive practical training
Aviation in India. We continue to at one of AAR’s MRO facilities in the One of the major problems

seek additional opportunities to United States. that the MRO industry is

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