Air India and Vistara Join Forces for Aircraft Maintenance in Gurugram
In a significant move towards operational synergy, Air India and Vistara have secured the CAR (Civil Aviation Requirement) 145 approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to integrate their aircraft line maintenance operations.
This strategic integration will merge Vistara’s Line Maintenance activities under Air India’s facilities and scope, marking a key milestone in unifying the maintenance resources of both airlines. By leveraging the combined expertise and optimizing processes, resources, and systems, this merger will significantly enhance Air India’s technical capabilities, ensuring greater self-reliance in fleet maintenance, and implement industry-leading practices across all MRO operations.
This will result in optimizing resources to enhance operational performance and reduce aircraft turnaround times to bolster on-time performance (OTP). With a unified maintenance team and resources, Air India will be better positioned to service a mixed fleet of widebody and narrowbody aircraft, enhancing schedule integrity and reliability of operations.
Air India has so far in-housed line maintenance at 12 stations in India and the move will further bolster the in-house line maintenance capabilities of Air India by making it more self-reliant and streamlined. This will also allow key technical activities related to aircraft and its components to come under a single integrated scope and ambit of work.
The merger will not only bolster core line maintenance work to keep the combined fleet of Air India and Vistara flying fit within the ecosystem of Air India but will also result in embracing the best industry practices for all MRO activities, strengthening the overall capacity of the Engineering capacity and resources.
The combined strength of the Air India Maintenance team will bring every aspect of work under one umbrella and help streamline and coordinate the work processes and systems of the diverse technical teams hitherto involved in the process.
Enhanced synergy of the combined resources will also ensure real-time availability of records of all activities for fast diagnosis and troubleshooting of technical issues by tracing and correcting the systems involved. The combined strength will also create economies of scale in resource mobilization and augment trained manpower to cater to various maintenance and checks of the aircraft in the fleet of the Group Carriers, including Air India Express, the aircraft of which has been serviced by the Vistara team.
Doubts Revealed
Air India -: Air India is a major airline in India that flies people to different places within the country and around the world.
Vistara -: Vistara is another airline in India that also flies people to various destinations. It is known for its good service.
Aircraft Maintenance -: Aircraft maintenance means taking care of airplanes to make sure they are safe and can fly properly. This includes checking and fixing parts of the plane.
Gurugram -: Gurugram, also known as Gurgaon, is a city near Delhi in India. It is known for its modern buildings and many companies have offices there.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) -: The DGCA is a government organization in India that makes rules and checks if airplanes and airlines are safe and follow the rules.
Line Maintenance -: Line maintenance is the regular checking and fixing of airplanes when they are not flying, to make sure they are ready for the next flight.
Operational Performance -: Operational performance means how well the airline is running its flights, like being on time and making sure everything works smoothly.
Aircraft Turnaround Times -: Aircraft turnaround time is the time it takes for an airplane to be ready for its next flight after it lands. Shorter times mean the plane can fly more often.
Schedule Reliability -: Schedule reliability means how often flights leave and arrive on time. Better reliability means fewer delays.
Maintenance Records -: Maintenance records are documents that show all the checks and fixes done on an airplane. They help keep track of the plane’s condition.