Page 20 - AAA OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2019 Online Magazine

[ MAINTENANCE REPAIR OVERHAUL ]

Wake Up Call

Land of Opportunity
Thai Airways’ MRO arm, Thai Technical, hopes
IF INDIA CAN BRING TO REALITY THE to incorporate its U-Tapao-based joint venture
CHANGES THAT ARE CURRENTLY BEING MRO with Airbus by the first quarter of 2020,
DISCUSSED, IT COULD BE A GAME CHANGER FOR for launch in 2022. The facility will be able to
ITS MRO INDUSTRY support various aircraft types including the
Airbus A380, A350, A330 and A320, as well as
Boeing types such as the 747, 777, 787 and 737.
Jay Menon
So with Thai Airways International and Airbus
India seems to have been shaken up from its slumber as Thailand, partnering to explore MRO business oppor-
its neighbour across the ocean, announced plans to build a full- tunities at the island nation’s U-Tapao airport,
fledged MRO unit in response to a rapid increase in the number of global and domestic providers of aviation ser-
aircraft operating in the region. For decades, the commercial aircraft vices to commercial airlines are now seeking to
maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market in Southeast Asia capitalize on the growth of the region’s aviation
has been controlled by leading players in Singapore, the regional industry through the maintenance business.
aviation hub. These Singaporean companies have been providing
maintenance services for airlines both in and outside the region. India, with its growing aircraft fleet size, strate-
gic location advantage, rich pool of engineering
Leading aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus expect that carriers in expertise, and lower labour costs has huge
the Asia-Pacific region will need about 16,000 new aircraft valued potential to be a global MRO hub. India’s cur-
at US$2.5 trillion by 2036. This means huge opportunities for rent MRO market size is estimated to be around
MRO service providers as commercial aircraft are required to be US$750 million. As per Boeing itself, the market
inspected and maintained after every flight and overhauled every is expected to grow at 7 percent CAGR for the
few years. next 7 years to reach $1.2 billion by 2020. With

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