In a bid to invite more investments, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced a new policy for maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services on Thursday, which includes land leasing through open tenders and the elimination of the AAI's royalty. Rather than the current short-term period of three to five years, land allotment for entities establishing MRO facilities will be done for 30 years. Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia announced the new policy and stated that talks are underway to bring military and civil MRO activities closer together. The goal, according to the minister, is to make India a global MRO hub. Instead of the current practice of having predetermined Airports Authority of India (AAI) rates, the new policy will determine lease rental rates through bidding. In addition, after every three years, the rate of escalation for lease rental would be 15%. At the moment, the annual escalation rate is between 7.5 and 10%. Instead of the current practice of allotment based on an entity's request, the land will be distributed through open tenders. There will also be changes in the renewal of existing leaseholders' contracts, according to the minister. When existing contracts expire, the land given to these MROs will be allocated through a bidding process. The ministry has identified eight airports for attracting investments to set up MRO facilities to push MRO activities for aircraft and helicopters in the country. Begumpet, Bhopal, Chennai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Juhu, Kolkata, and Tirupati are the eight airports. In addition, the ministry is also planning to launch the AirSewa 3.0 portal by September 30. In the first phase, eight Flight Training Organisations (FTOs) at AAI airports will be established under the PPP model at Belagavi (Karnataka), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Kalaburgi (Karnataka), Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh), and Lilabari, according to the minister (Assam). Scindia said five airports would be operationalised under the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN as part of the 100-day plan. The ministry stated that under UDAN, 50 routes will be operationalised, with 30 of them being operational by October. In terms of infrastructure, Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh is set to open and will be a part of the Buddhist circuit. The aerodrome will cost Rs 255 crore to build. Other initiatives include the construction of new terminal buildings at Agartala and Dehradun airports, which will cost Rs 457 crore each. The latter will set you back Rs 490 crore. Scindia informed the upcoming Jewar airport in Uttar Pradesh, which will cost Rs 29,560 crore in total. Image SourceAlso read: Indian Air Force, IIT Kanpur enter pact to boost aviation technology