Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated Safran Aircraft Engine Services India (SAESI), a high-capacity maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility for LEAP engines in Hyderabad on Wednesday, November 26.
The plant will start operations in 2026 and is expected to significantly boost India’s aviation ecosystem.
India’s MRO market to hit $4 billion by 2031: aviation minister
Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu, who was present at the inauguration event, said that the country’s MRO market is projected to reach $4 billion by 2031, growing at a rate of 8.9%.
Naidu added that carrying out MRO activities within India will help airlines save up to $15 billion in foreign exchange in the coming years. The cost saving, he said, will to be passed on to passengers.
India is one of the world’s fastest growing civil aviation markets and domestic carriers have placed orders for over 1,500 planes, as per a report by PTI.
Safran’s Hyderabad facility to service LEAP engines
The SAESI facility has been set up with an initial investment of Rs 1,300 crore. It will service LEAP (Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion) engines used in popular commercial aircraft, including Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX.
LEAP engines are produced by CFM International, a 50:50 joint venture between Safran Aircraft Engines and GE Aerospace.
It is designed to service up to 300 LEAP engines annually, and will employ over 1,000 highly skilled Indian technicians and engineers upon achieving full operational capacity by 2035, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had said in a release on Tuesday.
Safran bets big on India: €3 billion by 2030
Safran will also be setting up a dedicated MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) facility for the M88 engines powering the Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets in Hyderabad. With these facilities, French major Safran said, it expects to triple its annual revenue in the country to more than 3 billion euros by 2030.
“The new LEAP engine MRO centre represents a total investment of 200 million euros and will be operational in 2026. The 45,000-square-meter facility will ramp up to a capacity of 300 LEAP shop visits a year and boast a next-generation test bench,” the company said in a release.