India’s largest low-fare airline, IndiGo, has contracted SriLankan Engineering to carry out major maintenance programmes on its fleet of aircraft in 2010, following the success of a similar programme on 12 of its aircraft this year.

The 2010 programme is expected to include ‘C-checks’ on 10 Airbus A320 aircraft at SriLankan Engineering’s hangar complex at the Bandaranaike International Airport. SriLankan Engineering has already completed 12 of 13 C-checks this year on IndiGo’s Airbus A320 fleet, with the final check scheduled for mid-December. C-checks are mandatory maintenance programmes that are carried out periodically on every commercial aircraft.  

Sri Lanka’s National Carrier has made a significant investment in recent years to transform its aircraft maintenance arm SriLankan Engineering, and position it as a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) institution of choice in the South Asian region. SriLankan Engineering specialises in Airbus aircraft, with the SriLankan fleet being comprised of A320, A330, and A340 aircraft.

Aditya Ghosh, President of IndiGo said: "IndiGo is pleased to extend its relationship with SriLankan Engineering and this decision is a reflection of the strong customer focus that the professional and dedicated team at SriLankan Engineering has demonstrated.

IndiGo is certain that SriLankan Engineering will take this relationship to the next level with enhanced levels of support, care and TAT and will do its very best to uphold the trust that IndiGo has posed in it by embarking on a relationship that will prove mutually beneficial for our companies.”

IndiGo is one of the world’s fastest growing carriers, and operates a fleet of 23 A320-200 aircraft with nearly 150 daily flights to 20 cities throughout India , having commenced operations in August 2006. Since that time, IndiGo has won several Industry awards including “Best Low Cost Carrier by the Airline Passengers Association of India in 2007”, the award for “Best  Domestic Low Cost Carrier” at the Galileo Express Travel Awards 2008, the 2009 CNBC AWAAZ award for “Best Low Cost Carrier” and now, the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Award 2009 in the Aviation category.

 SriLankan Engineering possesses the prestigious EASA 145 certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency in recognition of its commitment to the highest standards of professionalism in aircraft maintenance. It was awarded the title of Best Global Operator by Airbus Industrie for operational excellence in both A330 and A340 aircraft in the small airline category.

SriLankan Technical Training, SriLankan Engineering’s school for pilots, aircraft engineers and technicians, is one of the few companies in Asia to have the EASA 147 certification to provide training in aircraft maintenance to foreign and local students.

This year’s 10-month programme for IndiGo commenced in February with the first two aircraft, a third in March, three in July, three more in August, two in September and one in November.

During this period, SriLankan Engineering also carried out all engineering and maintenance activities on SriLankan’s own fleet, and also carried out two major projects on aircraft of the Pakistani airline Airblue.