Honeywell Aerospace wants more partners in India to carry out maintenance, repair and overhaul work on aircraft parts, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.
Honeywell Aerospace, based in Phoenix, Arizona, became an independent company listed on Nasdaq in June, after separating from Honeywell International. It supplies avionics, engines and power systems, and aircraft control systems, and has more than 36,000 employees.
Ben Driggs, the company’s senior vice president and chief commercial and strategy officer, told the outlet that partnerships are a key part of building an aerospace industry in India that serves both the domestic market and Honeywell Aerospace’s global business.
In July the company signed a licensing agreement with GMR, which lets it repair Honeywell components fitted on CFM LEAP engines used on A320neo and 737 MAX aircraft. Driggs cited it as an example of bringing repair capability to India through local partners. The company’s approach combines indirect investment through industry development with spending on talent and infrastructure, and it decides on new capabilities based on their economics. It did not disclose a spending figure or name prospective repair partners.
Vijay Yaram, the company’s country leader for India, said India is also a major sourcing partner with more than 100 parts suppliers. The company says it has 3,600 aerospace employees in India, including nearly 3,000 engineers who work on domestic and global programs.
The company also pointed to Ensemble, an engine-health monitoring system developed entirely in India. It uses artificial intelligence to support predictive maintenance and has been deployed commercially.
The push follows plans the company outlined last year to increase its sourcing from India nearly fourfold over the next few years. Industry estimates cited in that earlier report put the cost of a new repair facility built from scratch at $150 million to $200 million.
The government has been pushing for more repair work to be done in India. Last year the civil aviation minister said companies in India held 14% of the repair market in the fiscal year ending March 2024, with a target of 50% by 2030.
