Gallery: Asia-Pacific’s Aftermarket Growth In 2023

AirAsia parent company Capital A filed plans Sept. 20 to establish an MRO business in Cambodia in partnership with hospitality management consultancy Sivilai Asia. Capital A’s MRO subsidiary, Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), will take a 60% stake in the joint venture while Sivilai Asia will hold the remaining 40%. The MRO cooperation follows an agreement between the companies in December 2022 to launch AirAsia Cambodia.

In January, ADE opened a new hangar at Johor Bahru Sinai airport that is offering services such as component support, line maintenance and base maintenance. The hangar is focused primarily on supporting Airbus A320 and A330 aircraft.

MTU Maintenance Zhuhai opened a new engine maintenance training center in early September at its Zhuhai base in China. The training center will have capacity to train up to 100 people annually on engine maintenance, repair, and assembly/disassembly.

In June, MTU Maintenance Zhuhai opened its second test cell in China, which is located approximately 20 min. from its existing Zhuhai facility. The 60,000-lb.-thrust test cell has annual capacity for around 260 tests and will primarily focus on Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM and IAE V2500 engines.

Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC) and Eaton partnered in July to establish a component MRO joint venture (JV) in Malaysia. The JV will focus on inspections, testing, repairs, maintenance, modifications and overhaul of Eaton-manufactured components for airframe and engine fuel systems and hydraulics systems.

In May, SIAEC announced plans to open a JV with Cambodia Airport Investment Co. to provide line maintenance services at Phnom Penh’s new Techo International Airport. The JV will commence operations in March 2025 when the airport is scheduled to open. 

Rolls-Royce and Air China broke ground Aug. 31 on their new MRO joint venture (JV), Beijing Aero Engine Services Company Limited (BAESL). The JV will support Trent 700, Trent XWB-84 and Trent 1000 engines. The BAESL facility, which is being built next to Beijing Capital Airport, is expected to begin operations in 2026 and to hit full capacity by mid-2030. BAESL is Rolls-Royce’s first MRO joint venture in mainland China.

ST Engineering and SF Airlines established an MRO joint venture (JV) at Ezhou Huahu Airport in May. Operating as ST Engineering Aerospace (Hubei) Aviation Services Company Ltd., the JV will service cargo and passenger airlines operating in the Asia region. The JV’s first hangar is expected to be completed by 2025.

FL Technics subsidiary FL Technics Indonesia began development in August of an MRO hub at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. It expects to finish construction within a year. The six-bay narrowbody facility will supplement FL Technics’ existing facility in Jakarta. 

China’s Wenzhou Longwan Airport has begun construction of a facility that will provide aircraft lifecycle handling services, including the scrapping of aircraft and recycling of parts. The facility will include two dismantling lines capable of handling six medium- to large-sized aircraft annually.

In April, Airbus and Tarmac Aerosave signed a joint venture agreement to establish the Airbus Lifecycle Services Centre at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport. The facility will have capacity to store up to 125 aircraft and it will also provide aircraft maintenance, upgrades, conversions, dismantling and recycling. The facility is expected to open by the end of 2023.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA) are partnering to develop best practices and compliance for international aircraft parts disassembly. The organizations signed a memorandum of understanding on Sept. 18 to establish a process that will support applying China’s CCAR-145 approval to aircraft disassembly facilities outside China based on AFRA accreditation for limited disassembly functions. The organizations also plan to establish a means to compile parts information from disassembly facilities outside the country that meet CAAC’s requirements.

Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW) received supplemental type certificate validation from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in May for its Airbus A330 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion program.

In June, Chinese MRO provider Haite Group signed an agreement with EFW to begin work this year on A321 P2F conversions in China. The first aircraft was inducted in August and Haite is carrying out conversion work in Tianjin, China.

Other P2F providers are also partnering with MRO providers in the Asia-Pacific region to perform conversions. In July, Aeronautical Engineers, Inc. (AEI) added Grand China Aviation Maintenance to its network of Boeing 737-800SF P2F conversion specialists. AEI expects the first 737-800SF to be converted by the first quarter of 2024.

In April, Israel Aerospace Industries signed a collaboration agreement with Korean MRO provider Sharp Technics K to establish a conversion line for Boeing 777-ERSF aircraft at Incheon International Airport.

HAECO Xiamen completed its first Airbus A321-200PCF converted freighter in January. It also broke ground at China’s new Xiamen Xiang’an International Airport on what it says will be the world’s largest single-span hangar. The 292,300 m² (3.1 million ft.²) facility will have 12 widebody and six narrowbody maintenance bays, as well as two separate painting bays.

In August, HAECO Group also launched solar power systems at its landing gear services facility in Xiamen and its composite services facility in Jinjiang.

Indian MRO provider GMR Aero Technic signed an agreement with Spirit AeroSystems in February to become a Spirit authorized repair center. It will initially provide repair services for nacelles, radomes and flight control surfaces for all narrowbodies, including Boeing 737NGs and MAXs.

In March, GMR Aero Technic signed a three-year logistics service contract with Kuehne+Nagel aimed at providing 24/7 AOG support and reducing downtime.

Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL) inducted its first international customer aircraft in September. The Kuwait Airways Boeing 777 will undergo a C check at AIESL’s Nagupur facility. Kuwait Airways is the first carrier outside India to be serviced at the facility.

In March, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Aero Engines (MHIAEL) inducted its first Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engine at its recently expanded facility in Komaki, Japan. MHIAEL is expecting to increase its commercial engine MRO capacity to more than 10 units per month by 2026.

Japan Airlines (JAL) signed a deal with Collins Aerospace in June to install the OEM’s Ascentia predictive maintenance tool on its entire Boeing 787 fleet. It also signed a deal with Boeing, through which the OEM will provide JAL with engineering work and supply component kits to upgrade its 787 interior configurations.

JAL is also in the process of converting three of its Boeing 767-300ERs to freighter format.