SINGAPORE—The joint venture between Spirit AeroSystems and Evergreen Aviation Technologies (EGAT) will open Oct. 3 in Taiwan.
The JV, Spirit Evergreen Aftermarket Solutions (SEAS), will provide MRO solutions for nacelle and flight controls on Boeing 737, 747-8, 747, 767 and 787 aircraft, as well as Airbus A320s and A330s. It will build off of the airframe heavy maintenance and modification work that EGAT already performs.
Spirit and EGAT have had a partnership for two years, with EGAT using its component and composites shops to serve as a supplier of services for Spirit in Taiwan, and Spirit supplying its tooling and materials. The JV “carves that backshop out,” forming SEAS, an independent legal entity, says Kailash Krishnaswamy, senior vice president for Spirit Aftermarket Services.
Spirit is the majority owner and intends to “bring a lot more of our repair capability and low-cost engineering capability into the JV, and not just support our customers in the region like we did in the past but also support EGAT’s customers in the region,” Krishnaswamy says.
Spirit is considering adding European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) design organization approval to the JV to facilitate parts repair design. “We’ll also be looking at bringing more complex repairs” to SEAS, says Krishnaswamy.
He says Spirit’s sales team is seeing “increased demand from Asia-Pacific carriers.” The region has “actually turned the corner quite a bit” in terms of aviation’s recovery from the pandemic, he adds.
It was not disclosed how much revenue the JV has been projected to generate.
SEAS is now in the process of obtaining regulatory approvals. Krishnaswamy expects Taiwan CAA approval “anytime now” and believes FAA and then EASA certification will follow after.
The JV structure is essentially the same as what Spirit announced with GAMECO in China—moving its tooling and material into a heavy maintenance center. This “asset light” structure is a model Spirit is thinking about “for other regions of the world,” says Krishnaswamy.
Spirit hopes to grow its aftermarket business to $500 million by 2025. In 2021, that figure was $239.9 million.
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