Outgoing director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) Subhas Menon has called for increased investment – particularly from Asia-Pacific states – to beef up the aerospace sector, as supply chain challenges continue to plague airlines.
Menon, speaking to FlightGlobal ahead of the Singapore air show, says the region could do more to mitigate the effects of an increasingly volatile global supply chain, even as it slowly works through current challenges.
“We cannot just wait for the Americans and Europeans to solve [the supply chain] problems,” he adds, a nod to the big two airframers Boeing and Airbus.
“You have to get your hands dirty as well – you have got to start somewhere,” says Menon.
Supply chain issues have been a common complaint from AAPA member carriers, most of whom have been impacted by ongoing delivery delays and longer maintenance turnaround times.
Menon, who retires from his AAPA role in March, acknowledges that the supply chain issues are a “generational challenge” that are unprecedented in their scale.
“If you don’t fix it, I think it is going to be a big constraint on the industry,” he says.
Menon says the Asia-Pacific “has the wherewithal and the resources” to enter into aircraft manufacturing, pointing to China as an example.
Singapore, meanwhile, has done well in growing its overhaul capabilities, with a raft of investments in recent years, but will eventually be limited by its size, notes Menon.
Menon says that Comac’s presence at the Singapore air show, as well as its small but growing footprint in Southeast Asia, “is a very good move”.
Still, he believes that “what is really holding back” the Shanghai-based airframer from competing effectively is the fact that it is “still dependent on the same supply chains” as Western manufacturers.
This is especially evident in Comac’s C919 programme, which uses engines – CFM International Leap-1Cs – and other major components from Western suppliers. Beijing is working to produce its own engines but development has progressed slowly.
