At the beginning of this year, the commercial aviation market was pegged to be worth $82.5 billion—but it is likely to finish at only around $46 billion, according to Aviation Week Network’s Commercial Fleet and MRO Forecasts.
Take a look at our roundup of how the regions stack up >>
ASIA PACIFIC
Credit: Singapore Airlines
Singapore
The city-state has been one of the leaders in MRO capabilities in the region, spearheaded by Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering’s aerospace division, the largest MRO provider in the world in terms of maintenance labor hours.
Early control of the pandemic in China allowed its aviation sector to rebound quickly, with domestic capacity returning to 2019 levels by the third quarter and surpassing 2019 levels in October.
Vietnam and the Philippines have been some of the shining stars in Southeast Asian commercial aviation, with the air transport market in that region growing by double digits over the last few years. Relatively cheap but skilled labor makes the two developing countries suitable for labor-intensive MRO work as their aviation sector surges. However, the pandemic is jeopardizing their positions as emerging MRO hubs.
Given the surge in demand for storing aircraft in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, particularly for widebody types, aircraft storage providers are trying to handle the increase.
FL Technics plans to build a 215,000-ft.2 maintenance hangar at Punta Cana International Airport in the Dominican Republic. The company expects to open the facility that will include five maintenance bays in 2025.
MIDDLE EAST
Credit: Sanad Aerotech
The region’s MRO capacity has typically trended upward over the past decade, thanks in part to the surge in international air traffic passing through the United Arab Emirates in Dubai and, to a lesser extent, Abu Dhabi.
Operating in a region underserved by MRO providers, the ambitious aftermarket strategy of Ethiopian Airlines has been prominent. In the past five years alone, the airline’s MRO operation has added new capacity at the country’s capital of Addis Ababa along with a focus on growing third-party customer services.
MRO growth has occurred in Canada within the last year with new facilities, airlines and cargo conversions. In the province of Quebec, Lufthansa Technik has been expanding its Montreal engine MRO site, where it aims to triple local capacity for mobile engine services offerings and create new jobs by the end of 2021.
The COVID-19 crisis has driven growth in the American Southwest, which is home to numerous aircraft boneyards and storage facilities. At Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona, Ascent Aviation Services has seen a quadrupling of stored aircraft and increased demand for teardowns. This surge led it to increase staffing more than 25% this year and announce plans in October to expand to the Roswell International Air Center in New Mexico.
The biggest MROs in Central America focus on airframe heavy maintenance, so when the pandemic hit the region, the drop-off in work happened quickly as airlines parked aircraft.
Given that it is hard to quickly spool down large maintenance organizations, it is also difficult to quickly spool them back up. MROs cannot just turn their operation back on when passenger demand increases.
At the beginning of this year, the commercial aviation market was pegged to be worth $82.5 billion—but it is likely to finish at only around $46 billion, according to Aviation Week Network’s Commercial Fleet and MRO Forecasts.
