Thiruvananthapuram: Work on Air India's third hangar at Thiruvananthapuram will begin next month and it will be fully operational in 18 months, an official said here.

Air India currently has hangars in Mumbai and Delhi.

"The civil works will begin on March 1 and in 12 months the first phase would be ready. And six months later the full engineering and maintenance unit of Boeing 737-800 aircraft would be functional," Air India chief in Thiruvananthapuram H.A. Munaf told reporters Saturday night.

The initiative for the hangar had come at least three years ago when the then state government had offered land to Air India for a hangar.

"Initially the hangar would service only Air India fleet, and in the long run other airlines also would be able to use the facility," Munaf told IANS.

The hangar is coming up at a stones throw from the Thiruvananthapuram international airport.