The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) identified the Tirupati airport for development as a hub for aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) among eight airports in the country. Accordingly, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) called for bids to be submitted by May 5. The MRO facility is to be provided on a design, build, operate, maintain and transfer basis.
According to a report of Invest India titled ‘Tirupati - Unleashing MRO potential’ released in March, the aircraft movements at Tirupati airport registered a significant increase from 7,094 in 2017-18 to 10,738 in 2018-19 but fell to 9,589 in 2019-20 and to a further low level of 4,452 in 2020-21 when COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. The movements increased by 49% to 6,613 in 2021-22.
A total of 6,57,193 passengers travelled in 2017-18 and 8,47,905 in 2018-19. The numbers in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 were 8,34,660, 3,42,967 and 5,02,723 respectively.
