DAE Engineering Sales Surge Again

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) has lauded the contribution of its MRO unit, DAE Engineering, during the first six months of the year.

During the period, DAE Engineering, which is based at the Joramco facility in Amman, Jordan, inducted 177 aircraft and continued to grow its widebody maintenance offering with new customer relationships in Asia-Pacific and the Americas.

DAE boss Firoz Tarapore says that DAE Engineering is doing “phenomenally well” due to rising demand for maintenance and the shortage of capacity in the market.

“We see more and more operators coming to us and asking to lock in capacity, not just for the near term but for the next two-plus years. That's a phenomenal development from our perspective, as we plan around that for revenue and more predictable profitability,” Tarapore says.

In the six months to June 30, engineering maintenance service revenue increased by 26% on the prior-year period to $69.1 million. This was largely due to rising demand for maintenance and the shortage of capacity in the market.

Tarapore says DAE Engineering continued to do “phenomenally well,” which was understandable given that this year’s turnover spike built upon an 18% rise in sales during the first six months of 2021.

Furthermore, interim engineering profit this year more than doubled to roughly $10 million, perhaps reflecting tighter capacity and higher yields in the maintenance market.

Meanwhile, DAE Engineering’s costs rose 8%, to $44.5 million, in part due to an increase in billable labor hours from 600,000 to 700,000 during the first six months.

DAE owns 80% of Jordan-based Joramco, which focuses on airframe MRO services on Airbus, Boeing and Embraer aircraft. It has five aircraft hangars that can accommodate up to 17 widebody and narrowbody aircraft simultaneously.