GMR Aero Technic puts Rs 600 crore into Hyderabad MRO, wide-body painting

GMR Aero Technic, the aircraft maintenance arm of the GMR Group at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad, plans to invest about Rs 600 crore to expand its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, a senior company official said in remarks reported on Tuesday, 10 November 2026. The company aims to nearly double its capacity to about 18 maintenance lines by 2029, add three lines for wide-body aircraft and offer wide-body aircraft painting, which the company says will be a first in India.

India's airlines fly a fast-growing fleet, but most heavy maintenance on wide-body jets, the twin-aisle aircraft used on long international routes, is still done abroad, the company official noted. Each time a Boeing 787 or an Airbus A350 leaves the country for a major check or a new coat of paint, the money for that work, and the skilled jobs that come with it, go to MRO shops in other countries. A facility in Hyderabad that can take several wide-body aircraft at once gives Indian and foreign carriers a closer option.

Painting is a useful example. GMR Aero Technic's existing paint hangar can take one narrow-body aircraft, according to the company's facilities page. Repainting a wide-body jet needs a much larger, climate-controlled hangar, which is why airlines have so far sent these aircraft out of India for livery changes. The expansion is meant to close that gap.

The plan also fits a wider push by the Hyderabad unit to move up the value chain. In September 2026 the company signed an agreement with StandardAero to act as an authorised service centre for on-wing engine support in the Asia-Pacific region; that partnership is separate from the Rs 600 crore airframe expansion. It also holds a licence from Honeywell Aerospace to repair seven Honeywell parts fitted on the LEAP engines that power Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, and it has an agreement with Boeing Defence India for heavy maintenance of the Indian Navy's P-8I aircraft.

The exact timetable has varied between company statements. In a recent trade interview, Ashok Gopinath described a phased programme with an additional wide-body maintenance-cum-paint hangar, equal to three narrow-body lines, and a new narrow-body hangar by March 2028. In another interview he said the wide-body complex, built for Boeing 787, Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 aircraft, would be operational by June 2028. The latest statement puts the full target of about 18 lines at 2029.

Peepals calculation: The company says it can now handle nine narrow-body aircraft at a time and aims for about 18 lines, so the expansion adds roughly nine lines (18 - 9 = 9), and Rs 600 crore spread over those nine lines works out to about Rs 67 crore per added line (600 / 9 = 66.7). This is a simple average; wide-body lines and the paint hangar cost more than narrow-body bays. Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Nothing changes for airlines yet. The new hangars have to be built first, and the company's own dates for the first new wide-body and narrow-body hangars fall in 2028.

Long-term: If the plan is completed, Indian airlines with wide-body fleets could get heavy checks and repainting done in Hyderabad instead of abroad, and Telangana's aerospace cluster around the airport gains a larger anchor unit.

Who is affected: Airlines operating Boeing 787, 777 and Airbus A350 aircraft, aircraft maintenance engineers and technicians looking for work in Hyderabad, and smaller suppliers that serve the MRO trade around the airport.

What to watch next: the new narrow-body hangar, which the company's president has said is due by March 2028, and the target of about 18 lines by 2029.

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