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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 2010.PDF
ASIAN ADVANCE For MRO providers, Asia is the place to be, with local fleets expanding, low-cost carriers starting up and overseas airlines looking to cut costs by outsourcing BRENDAN SOBIE / SINGAPORE Maintenance providers through out Asia are racing to expand their capacity to keep up with rising demand from airlines in the region and overseas. With Asian carriers expanding their fleets more quickly than their counterparts in other regions, local maintenance com panies - many of which are partly or wholly owned by the airlines - are prepar ing for major growth. The sudden prolifer ation of low-cost carriers in the region is expected to create a new source of demand and carriers outside the region are increas ing their reliance on Asian providers in a bid to lower their maintenance costs. "Not only do we have fleet expansion in the region, we have an accelerated trend of bringing maintenance to lower-cost coun tries," says Ameco Beijing general manager Hans Schmitz. Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (HAECO) commercial general manager Ashok Sathianathan agrees: "There is definitely a trend of heavy maintenance work being outsourced to MROs [mainte nance, repair and overhaul] in the region from Japan, USA and Europe. This is being factored into our growth strategy." In China, growth at the national carriers promises to keep Ameco Beijing and other Chinese maintenance providers busy for years. With most Chinese carriers consoli dated into three groups led by Air China, China Eastern and China Southern, their maintenance arms are set for major growth. Ameco Beijing, a joint venture between Air China and Lufthansa formerly known as Ameco Aircraft Maintenance & Engineer ing, expects double-digit growth in the next several years, fuelled by expansion at the Air China group, plus third-party business. The company cannot add maintenance space until 2007, when it plans to open a three- bay facility in conjunction with the unveil ing of a new terminal at Beijing Capital air port, but says it can maintain growth in the interim by improving efficiency. Ameco is poised to expand revenues from last year's 1.3 billion yuan ($157 million) in revenues to 1.5 billion yuan this year, made possible by implementing a new production concept that allows it to work on up to eight heavy-maintenance checks at once. Ameco has only six bays, half of which are www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12-18 OCTOBER 2004 43
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