‘MRO for Safer Skies’ – Going strong with the MRO South Asia Summit

Going strong with MRO for Safer Skies as the theme, the 3rd Aerospace & Defence MRO South Asia Summit 2020 concluded on 7th February at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, India.

The 2-day summit discussed various problems revolving the Aerospace Maintenance Repair and Overhaul safety and came up with varied industry insights. Along with MRO safety, other aspects discussed were workplace safety in aviation and how we can minimise the maintenance errors leading to a safer flight experience. Besides this, other trending topics like future trends in MRO, the decarbonisation of aviation, Digitalisation of MROs and Aerospace logistics were also debated upon.

The summit saw presence of many industry veterans such as the Director of Air Works, Mr. Ravi Menon, CEO of Air India Engineering Services (AIESL) , HR. Jagannath, CEO of CAE Simulation training, Mr. Ashwani Acharya and many more. Along with the Civil MRO industry stalwarts, officers from the Indian Air force and Navy were also present in large numbers to share the defence MRO opportunities with the civil aviation industry.

The organiser of the summit – The STAT Trade Times gave away three important awards – The lifetime achievement award for Civil MRO. This award was given to Mr. HR Jagannath, the CEO of AIESL for his outstanding contribution in the field of Civil MRO. On receiving the award he said, “I am very happy that I could contribute something to the MRO industry. It was a real passion for me and I wanted to ensure that India comes on the MRO map of the world. I am happy to see my efforts have borne fruits.”

The next award was given to Air Marshal RKS Shera, PVSM AVSM VSM ADC officer Commander-in-Chief, Maintenance Command Indian Air Force for his contribution in the field of Defence MRO. Overwhelmed at receiving the award Air Marsha Shera said, “Just a week back I’ve received the Param Vishist Seva Medal from the President of India this is the second award 10 days in a row, I am completely surprised.” He has spent about 40 years in military maintenance and then went on to describe his experience with the Maintenance arm of Indian Air Force.

The Women Achiever award was given to Executive Director & Chief of flight safety in Air India, Mrs. Harpreet A De Singh.

The summit showcased presentations on varied topics like Investigation in Air Safety by P.S. Passi the director of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, The Aviation and MRO forecast, Modern MRO concepts, Hangar Door technology and many more.

The six panel discussions spread across two days covered most of the trending topics in the aviation MRO industry, discussing challenges faced not only by the MRO’s but also the airlines. The panellists and the audience also discussed and debated various solutions to the world-wide problem of skilled work force and training of AME’s.

All-in-all the summit witnessed a huge gathering of the aerospace MRO crème- de-la-crème from both the civil and defence sector, all under one roof. The next summit – 4th Aerospace & Defence MRO South Asia Summit will be held in February 2021 at the Le Meridian Hotel, New Delhi, India. So, Come and witness the change…