How New MRO Capabilities Are Growing By Region

In mid-fall 2021, Pratt & Whitney inducted the first geared turbofan in China at MTU Maintenance Zhuhai, a joint venture between MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Airlines. The joint venture joined Pratt’s GTF network in December 2020 and has begun constructing a second engine facility that will overhaul both GTFs and V2500s. The second facility is expected to start operations in 2024 and to handle 260 shop visits annually, with a staff of 600. A training center for up to 150 students per year should open in Zhuhai by 2023.

In line with its latest five-year plan, Ameco is building a new workshop for airframe-related components, and in 2022 it will add a new hangar at Chengdu Tianfu International Airport and a business-jet interior workshop. In 2022 it will also begin constructing hangars at Beijing Daxing, Hangzhou and Wuhan airports. Next year the large Chinese MRO also plans to build overhaul capability for both Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engines and Honeywell’s HGT1700 auxiliary power unit. The five-year plan calls for modifying Airbus aircraft for cargo duties.

In the Asia-Pacific region, SIA Engineering Co. (SIAEC) continues to invest in new capabilities. SIAEC signed a memorandum of understanding in March to acquire part or all of SR Technics Malaysia, and it has established a new engine services division, initially focused on the CFM Leap engine. The MRO’s base maintenance ventures, SIA Engineering Philippines and Heavy Maintenance Singapore Services, became wholly owned subsidiaries in 2020. SIAEC plans investments of S$40 million ($29.2 million) over the next three years, deepening digitalization and automation, including a SMART MX mobile app and an engine-lifter for engine changes.

Lion Air Group subsidiary Batam Aero Technic (BAT) says it will add six heavy maintenance lines by the end of 2021, bringing its total capacity at Batam Hang Nadim Airport to 21 lines. BAT would like to eventually double its capacity to 50 lines in an airport designated by the Indonesian government as a special economic zone. Lion Air had the biggest share of Indonesia’s 100 million pre-COVID-19 domestic passengers. During the pandemic, BAT increased digitalization and reduced costs. BAT holds FAA approval for Boeing 737NGs and hopes to attain European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approval for the Airbus A320 family in 2022 or 2023. The Batam economic zone expects investments of up to $440 million in MRO by 2030.

In Taiwan, GE Evergreen Engine Services, a joint venture between Evergreen Aviation Technology and GE Aviation, has announced the opening of a new component repair site at Guanyin Industrial Park. Many of these repairs have been performed at an existing overhaul site at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport, but some engine components have been sent to various locations outside of Taiwan for repair during engine overhauls due to capacity constraints. The MRO now plans to keep most repairs in Taiwan at the new location, which is 16 km (10 mi.) from the airport.

The new facility, which has three floors and more than 13,000 m² (140,000 ft.²) of space, will allow more capacity to grow overhaul and repair operations. It will also reduce shipping costs and could help improve turnaround time for engine overhauls and parts repairs. More than 500 employees work at the two sites, with more than 100 having moved to the new facility. More hiring at the new site is planned for 2022.

AAR Indamer Technics, a joint venture between Indamer Aviation and AAR, announced in August 2021 the opening of its Nagpur facility, which will provide maintenance to aircraft from India and nearby countries. It is now ready for the Airbus 320 family and will soon be ready for Boeing 737s. Various shop capabilities have been developed to support heavy checks, including structural repairs, non-destructive testing, and cabin and seat repairs.

The MRO is approved by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and it has filed for approval by EASA and the FAA. The staff currently comprises 120 employees. The facility is built on 30 acres in the MIHAN Special Economic Zone in Nagpur, Maharashtra. It houses several hangars for heavy checks, including a dedicated hangar for aircraft painting. Electricity is sourced through rooftop solar panels. Water needs are met through ground- and rainwater harvesting, while on-site effluent and sewage treatment plants treat wastewater to be reused in horticulture areas.

AAR Indamer has already welcomed IndiGo, India’s largest airline, as its first client.

In The Middle East, Joramco continues to expand services well beyond the heavy checks it is known for. In October 2021 it signed a cooperation agreement with UUDS AERO of France to expand its capabilities for cabin refurbishments and Boeing 737-800 passenger-to-cargo conversions. That same month, Joramco also signed a memorandum of understanding with Testia to cooperate in establishing a fluid testing laboratory to perform particle-count testing of hydraulic fluids and perhaps eventually test fuel, engine oil and water.

Lufthansa Technik Middle East signed a partnership agreement with Sanad in November 2021 to develop technology solutions to digitize maintenance. The Dubai-based MRO also signed a memorandum of understanding with Joramco in June 2021 to partner on nacelle MRO, and last year it signed a cooperation agreement with GMR Aero Technic in India.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will establish a passenger-to-freighter conversion site at Ethiopian Airlines’ maintenance facilities in Addis Ababa for Boeing 767-300s. It will initially convert three Ethiopian 767-300s, then expand its services to other airlines in Africa and the wider region. Ethiopian has a large MRO presence in its country’s capital, where it offers aircraft maintenance and overhaul, staff training and guidance, as well as assistance in acquiring certification and licenses. The move into Africa further expands IAI’s global footprint, which will include Tel Aviv, Mexico City and Lithuania.

In Europe, FEAM plans to expand its overseas footprint with its recent acquisition of BOSA, which has repair stations near Manchester, UK and at Flughafen Leipzig/Halle, Germany. The MRO and staffing company plans to add upwards of 450 mechanics throughout its network over the next year, and it is also adding new technology tools, such as mixed-reality goggles for remote assistance and collaboration.

FEAM has also opened three new U.S. line stations in Columbia, South Carolina; Spokane, Washington and Philadelphia, and it plans to develop avionics modifications and installation capabilities at its Miami base maintenance facility.

Nayak Aircraft Services, which performs line maintenance at more than 60 airports throughout Europe, has expanded its Barcelona activities by creating Yellow Technic, a Part 145 joint venture with Vueling Airlines. Through this partnership, Nayak provides maintenance at Vueling’s home base for Airbus A320s and Vueling obtains full insight into and influence on decision-making in maintenance procedures.

In 2022, Nayak plans expansions of line maintenance at many Spanish airports such as Alicante, Malaga, Seville, Bilbao, Zaragoza and Palma de Mallorca. Another location in Europe that will soon be supported by Nayak is Gdansk in Poland. Current recruitment is underway so Nayak can be up and running at Gdansk in April 2022.

EasyJet is building a new maintenance hangar at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is planned to be fully operational at the start of 2023. The carrier will invest €20 million in the new hangar and existing Brandenburg facilities. This will be the airline’s first maintenance hangar outside the UK. The 10,000-m2 (108,000-ft.2) hangar will accommodate four narrowbodies up to the size of an Airbus A321 and will be used for light base maintenance. The new hangar will support easyJet’s European fleet of about 120 A320-family aircraft operating under an Austrian air operator certificate.

Danish MRO Northern Aerotech (NAT) began providing line maintenance to Switzerland’s Chair Airlines in 2021 at Zurich Airport, where it also supports Condor, Enter Air, Aegean Airlines, Air Malta and Ukraine International Airlines. NAT is now looking to acquire a hangar for base maintenance on narrowbodies somewhere in Europe and also is seeking an EASA certificate for widebody maintenance.

STS Aviation Services continues to grow and build new capabilities for legacy and next-generation aircraft at both of its base maintenance facilities in Newquay and Birmingham, UK. STS CEO Mick Adams says the company has increased its headcount from 25 to nearly 200 full-time employees in the UK. The MRO plans to have Part 21J design approval in 2022 and will soon have battery overhaul capability. STS Aviation Services plans to grow its capacity again in 2022, with a focus on systems and processes.

After acquiring the maintenance arm of Flybe, Dublin Aerospace established a UK MRO, Exeter Aerospace, to perform base maintenance on Embraer 170s and 190s, De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400s and ATR 72s. All six bays have been occupied, and Exeter turned its first profit in May 2021. In October 2021, Dublin Aerospace opened a landing gear overhaul facility that specializes in Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 landing gear overhauls. Spread across 70,000 ft.² and located 15 mi. northwest of Dublin, the facility will be able to overhaul up to 350 gears per year with its 150 employees.

The AJW Group recently bought Avia Component Services to launch its European MRO facility near London Gatwick Airport. The shop, located at AJW’s Slinfold, West Sussex headquarters, will operate as AJW Technique Europe, paralleling AJW Technique, AJW’s component repair shop in Montreal.

Last year Lufthansa Technik and MTU Aero Engines established EME Aero in Rzeszow, Poland as part of Pratt & Whitney’s GTF aftermarket network. EME started with PW1100Gs and began work on PW1500Gs in September 2021. PW1500Gs are expected to yield more than 35 shop visits in 2021 and 2022. The company plans to eventually support PW1900s and reach a capacity of 450 shop visits annually with 1,000 workers by 2026.

EME is also working to implement the high-tech flow-line system. Under the flow-line concept, engines are fitted to freely moving, floor-based carriers that can be pulled in and out of the production line without disturbing the overall flow.

Despite the COVID-19 slowdown, Poland’s LOT Aircraft Maintenance Services (LOTAMS) continues to plan a new technical base near Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland. Construction will begin in 2022, but for several years LOTAMS has been recruiting and training to prepare suitably qualified technical staff. The main goal of the Rzeszow base is to expand the MRO’s ability to provide base maintenance, in particular for widebody models such as the Boeing 787.

The first stage of the investment plan includes the construction of a service hangar with a usable area of almost 13,000 m² (140,000 ft.²), a pre-hangar board and a building that will serve as a workshop, technical and office back-up facility. Its investment also includes the necessary tools and equipment as well as land development around the newly constructed buildings, such as construction of a car park.

Czech Airlines Technics (CSAT) is finalizing preparations for the 2022 opening of a new aircraft paint shop at Vaclav Havel Airport Prague. It is also discussing options for increasing capacity in its base maintenance division in Prague. The MRO recently made a significant investment in acquiring evacuation slides and rafts for Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s and thus became one of the key providers of emergency equipment exchanges on the market. CSAT has also expanded its capacity with a hydraulic test bench to support an internal landing gear shop.

By late 2021, Aeroflot Group subsidiary A-Technics had operations well underway at its new 15,000-m² (more than 160,000-ft.²) hangar at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. In October 2021, A-Technics did its first C checks on two Sukhoi Superjet 100s and launched the C check program on Boeing 747s for Rossiya Airlines. By the end of January 2022, the facility plans to complete C checks on three 747s. The first 747 is scheduled to undergo a C check within 34 days, during which time many detailed inspections, modifications and other types of work will be performed. The new C check hangar complex is equipped with what A-Technics says is the most modern equipment, as well as a unique docking system that provides engineering and technical personnel with operational access to any point of an aircraft.

HAECO Americas has expanded its facility in Lake City, Florida and it will collaborate with Precision Conversions to provide heavy maintenance and passenger-to-freight conversions of Airbus A321-200s at the site. The Airbus narrowbody is new to the conversion market, but the companies expect it to be popular as cargo demand booms and prices for older narrowbodies decline. Conversions are expected to start in January 2022.

STS Aviation Services’ base maintenance team in Melbourne, Florida, has added the Airbus A220 to its offerings. In addition, the MRO has continued to grow its workforce there by hiring more than 290 internal team members and contractors since January 2021.

“We still have more hires to make, and it is our hope to bring on an additional 100 team members before the end of this year,” says Mark Smith, group president of STS Aviation Group.

Ascent Aviation Services will construct a new widebody maintenance hangar at Roswell International Air Center in New Mexico. It plans to hire 130 new employees in the first year, followed by 360 employees over the next five years. This will be Ascent’s third facility, with a 90,000-ft.² hangar capable of handling a Boeing 777X. It should be certified by mid-2022. Throughout the pandemic, Ascent has increased its workforce, adding nearly 200 jobs since March 2020 as well as expanded capabilities.

Also in Oklahoma, King Aerospace is building a 90,000-ft.² hangar at Ardmore Industrial Airpark to support aircraft interior projects for large VVIP, military and government aircraft. In all, the new Ardmore facility will have more than 200,000 ft.2 of shop and hangar space, dedicated paint hangars and a 9,000-ft. paved runway with an instrument landing system. As a GE OnPoint Service Center, Ardmore will also offer maintenance and repair of CFM56-7Bs.

King is seeing strong market demand in 2022 for its primary market niche, Boeing Business Jets. Its 2022 forecast includes multiple BBJ interior refurbishments for a steady stream of new and repeat domestic and international BBJs that are coming up for their 12-year checks, as well as A, B and C checks. The MRO also says customers have completed their ADS-B installations and are shifting to connectivity upgrades.

ST Engineering’s U.S. subsidiary, Middle River Aerostructure Systems, is significantly enlarging its capabilities for nacelles by developing a 60,000-ft.² workshop in Middle River, Maryland, plus additional surface extension available to accommodate further business growth. Backed by a multi-million-dollar investment in tooling, machinery and systems, this step marks a major evolution of the MRO capabilities that MRAS performs. Starting with a complete floor-to-ceiling refurbishment of the dedicated MRO shop area with installation of smart lighting and new electrical wiring and heating, the company is also acquiring equipment such as a hydraulic test stand for thrust-reverser deployment functional testing, paint and power wash booths, component lift stands and a vertical carousel for parts.

The Maryland Board of Public Works has approved two contracts for the construction and operation of a major Southwest Airlines maintenance facility at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The public works board approved a $44.6 million construction contract to develop the site and a lease agreement for Southwest Airlines to build and operate the maintenance facility. The 27-acre site will include a hangar to accommodate up to three Boeing 737s and apron space to accommodate up to eight Southwest Airlines jets, along with associated office and workshop space. The maintenance facility’s total cost is estimated at around $135 million, which includes an investment of approximately $90 million from the airline. The new maintenance facility will be the first in the Northeastern U.S. for Southwest.

Elsewhere in the Americas, FL Technics has completed integration of its acquisition of Wright International, a line, airframe and engine MRO based at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Ontario, Canada. This is Lithuania-based FL Technics’ first facility in North America. Wright has extensive experience in daily, weekly and A checks, aircraft dismantling, borescope inspections and non-destructive testing. Using trusted vendors and the worldwide network of FL Technics, the Canadian shop can also handle engines, auxiliary power units and landing gear.

In February 2021, Air Canada signed letters of intent with AAR and Avianor for long-term airframe maintenance that would establish new airframe centers of excellence. AAR will establish its center at its Trois-Rivieres, Quebec facility—where it already performs MRO on Air Canada’s existing Airbus A320s and Embraer 190s—to accommodate A330s for Air Canada and Air Transat. Stephane Rochette, AAR’s director of maintenance at Trois-Rivieres, notes that this facility is already approved by Transport Canada, FAA and the EASA. The Trois-Rivieres MRO is a 150,000-ft.² facility with three hangar bays that can accommodate up to seven narrowbodies. It specializes in narrowbody maintenance and modification for the Airbus A320 family, Boeing 727s, 737s and 757s, and several Embraer types.

KF Aerospace has set up a second modification line at its Hamilton, Ontario facility to support Aeronautical Engineers 737-400SF freighter conversions. KF representative Matt Stone says things are going well at the new site. “In fact, the problem we’re having is we can’t hire enough to keep up with all the work and projects we’re getting in both our MRO facilities in Kelowna, B.C. and Hamilton, Ontario,” says Stone.

KF is expanding and hiring new staff at its main Kelowna facility and it is busy with conversions of both De Havilland Canada Dash-400 and Boeing 737-800s. The MRO is also bidding on the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Future Aircrew Training Program with partner CAE.

With U.S. domestic flights largely recovered, the Central American shops that do so much work on U.S and Latin American nations’ narrowbody airline fleets are increasingly busy and thinking of growth. El Salvador has just launched its AERO Cluster El Salvador project, which envisions the nation’s government, schools and businesses working together to maximize revenue-earning aviation activity. Aeroman CEO Alejandro Echeverría has announced the start of the MRO’s 43rd aircraft maintenance production line and says it will increase maintenance capacity 20-30% in the next five years. He says the company could eventually reach up to 75 production lines.

South of El Salvador at Juan Santamaria Airport near San Jose, Costa Rica, Coopesa is already seeing the level of business it had before COVID-19, according to Rodolfo Solis Alpizar, sales and marketing director. Coopesa’s strongest business continues to be heavy maintenance for the Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737s and 757s, and Embraer 190s. Although Coopesa is starting to experience labor shortages due to high demand for its maintenance services, it is already planning to expand. In five months, there should be two additional hangars for narrowbody maintenance.