Amid the backlash against Turkey in India over the former’s support to Pakistan, Tata group airline Air India will be looking for alternatives to maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) service provider Turkish Technic, which currently performs heavy maintenance of some of its wide-body aircraft, according to Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson.
“We want to respect the public sentiment…We will be adjusting our plans. We will be reconsidering where we send our aircraft for maintenance, and we will try to find alternatives to Turkish Technic. But such a shift will take some time. It can’t be overnight,” Wilson said.
Air India is now expected to gradually start sending aircraft that were going to Turkish Technic for maintenance to other major MRO facilities in various regions like Southeast Asia, West Asia, and the US. India currently lacks MRO facilities for wide-body aircraft, and is heavily dependent on foreign MROs for services.
In the wake of Operation Sindoor, there has been a growing clamour for a boycott of Turkey and a review of Turkish firms’ presence in India as well as their association with Indian companies. Apart from Ankara’s open support for Islamabad in the recent India-Pakistan military conflict, widespread use of Turkish drones by Pakistan in operations against India has added to the disapproval for Turkey in India, in public as well as the government.
The Centre has already cancelled the security clearance of Turkey-headquartered airport ground handling major Celebi in the “interest of national security”, bringing its operations to a halt across nine Indian airports.
In another action, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently rejected IndiGo’s request to extend its damp lease of two Turkish Airlines Boeing 777 jets, allowing only a three-month last and final extension and that too on the condition that IndiGo will end its lease arrangement with Turkey’s flag carrier.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Sunday said that the airline will comply with the government’s decision on the damp leases. The airline was using the damp-leased Boring 777s—with over 500 seats each—for its flight to Istanbul from Delhi and Mumbai. The airline may now have to use narrow-body Airbus A320 family aircraft, which have less than half the seat capacity, for these flights from September.
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