Highlighting the growing opportunities in the field of aviation, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that Maharashtra will soon have its own civil aviation policy for the sector and make attempts to attract investments. Fadnavis said the new policy will be aimed at building helipads across the State on the lines of airports and aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centres. Expressing his views while inaugurating the MRO services facility for Airbus helicopters at MIHAN, Fadnavis said the new policy will be a beginning of a new era in Maharashtra’s aviation sector.

 

Praful Patel, Rajya Sabha Member; Romain Trapp, Executive Vice-President, Customer Support and Services for Airbus Helicopters; and Prajay Patel, Director, Indamer Aviation Pvt Ltd; along with Rémi Maillard, President and Managing Director, Airbus India and South Asia; and Sunny Guglani, Head of Helicopters, Airbus India and South Asia, were also present on the occasion. Fadnavis further added that the Central Government has been aggressively promoting the sector by way of launching various steps. “It has recently slashed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate on aircraft MRO services from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.

 

The tax cut is attracting many investors in the aviation sector, especially in the field of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul,” he pointed out saying that as of now, there are 27 such facilities in the country out of which many centres are located in Maharashtra. “Aviation sector has witnessed impressive growth in the recent past and helicopters are being widely used in healthcare, tourism and other fields. Maharashtra should take advantage of it,” he said.