BANGALORE, INDIA: With India emerging in the race for the $10-billion Airline Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) industry in the Asia-Pacific region, IBS Software, a leading provider of IT solutions to the global Travel, Transportation and Logistics industries is eying a market share of 30-40 percent in the airline software industry by 2012.
The company has recently completed the acquisition of the US-based VISaer Inc, a leader in aviation maintenance and engineering (M&E) software solutions. With this acquisition, IBS would be one of the initial players to cater to the technological needs of the MRO business in India.
Talking to CIOL, V.K. Mathews, chairman & chief executive officer of IBS Software Services Pvt Ltd said, ``Aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul are vital functions for airlines and VISaer completes our portfolio of solutions that help airlines effectively manage their operational requirements. Through this acquisition, we also intend to create a global market leadership in the airlines MRO space; as the market, we know, is very fragmented.”
With this acquisition, IBS now covers the whole aviation industry complete with Airline Passenger Services, Airline & Airport Operations, Airline Cargo & Logistics. “This is our 5th acquisition and with this, IBS will emerge as the market leader in the airline software space with 30-40 percent market share by 2012. Presently we are facing competition from Sabre, Sita Inc, Amadeus, Lufthansa and Unisys,” says Mathews.
Industry estimates that the MRO industry worldwide is presently is at over $50-billion and is growing faster than the industry itself. In India, Mumbai and New Delhi are the existing MRO hubs and Nagpur is now emerging as the third hub.
VISaer provides a single, integrated business environment to control the core activities of fleet maintenance, repair and overhaul covering airframes, engines and components. Over the years VISaer Inc. has a successfully built a clientele that includes leading airlines and MRO organizations such as China Southern Airlines Limited, Jordan Aeronautical Systems Company, Wood Group Gas Turbine Services, Copa Airlines and Qantas Airways Limited catering to their needs extensively. VISaer provides a platform for a unique suite of modules that completely fits the contract and project-oriented aircraft MRO industry.
“In India, Jet Airways are the biggest customers having installed the large crew management system about eight months ago, says Mathews adding that however we are also in talks with several airline operators in India.”
The organization started with only 55 employees from Techpark in Kerala, today employees over 2000 doing business from 14 offices across the world. IBS operates six software development centers at Cochin, Bangalore, London, Tiruvanthpuram, Atlanta and Washington DC.
This is a major acquisition for IBS and its 5th globally, having previously acquired TopAir from EDS (Switzerland, 2002), Avient Technologies from Honeywell Corporation (UK, 2003), Discovery Travel Systems (USA, 2006) and Hotel Booking Solutions Inc. (March, 2008).