Air Transport

Lufthansa Technik, Europe's biggest maintenance, repair and overhaul house, is setting its sights on the North American market with a "number of projects" being considered, says chief executive August Henningsen. It follows the opening of its engine test cell in Tulsa, Oklahoma earlier this year.

He says there are also huge opportunities in Asia, particularly in China, India and Vietnam, where air traffic is growing fast thanks to deregulation and improving living standards. Henningsen says the German flag carrier subsidiary is in talks with many "new and potential airlines, including low-costers, in the region", adding: "This phenomenon, superimposed on a more liberalised market, will be a growth agent for the market." Lufthansa Technik derives 15% of its revenues from Asia and has added a second overhaul hangar at its Philippines facility.

Speaking at last month's Asian Aerospace, Henningsen brushed off claims that the newly merged SR Technics and FLS Aerospace would prove a more formidable rival. "We will have to see whether they become stronger, but they have taken out capacity, so I am not so sure," he says.

Henningsen says the company is ready to convert an Airbus A380 into a corporate jet when a customer emerges.

MURDO MORRISON / SINGAPORE