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Bengaluru: Domestic carrier IndiGo has commenced construction work on its new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility here, with the groundbreaking ceremony taking place at the Kempegowda International Airport on Tuesday.

To be built on 31 acres of land, the MRO with a capacity of up to 12 bays and the capability to handle both narrow and wide-body aircraft will be fully functional by 2028, IndiGo said.

The ceremony was attended by the Commissioner for Industries in the Karnataka Government, Gunjan Krishna, IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers, Bangalore International Airport Ltd’s CEO Hari Marar, among others.

IndiGo had signed a memorandum of understanding with BIAL for the allocation of land in May.

This facility will also create over a thousand jobs across engineers, technicians and several more, further contributing towards nation building, IndiGo said.

“We are very excited as we commence the project to build this grand MRO facility in Bengaluru. This also strengthens our operational presence in Bengaluru, which is one of our largest bases with over 200 daily flights. This is also an important step towards shaping the future of Indian aviation by developing a holistic aviation ecosystem in the nation,” said Elbers.

The Gurugram-headquartered airline currently has its MRO facilities in Delhi and Nagpur, and the latest facility will be three times bigger compared to the combined capacity of these MROs, the airline said.

With more than 400 aircraft in its fleet, dedicated MRO facilities will give a significant advantage to IndiGo in terms of aircraft availability, greater cost efficiencies and quicker turnaround, benefiting the airline and its customers, Indigo said, adding the development of such a facility will also help strengthen the aerospace and defence ecosystem in Karnataka.