Page 17 - AAA NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2012 Online Magazine

FEATURE CHINA AVIATION

surveying – even skydiving and tourism –
will all benefit. camp says that activities
such as agricultural spraying, aerial
survey and aid delivery will very likely
have government support, all helping
boost the industry.
“Aerospace restrictions may not be as
tough for activities like these undertaken
by government contractors, as they
would be for someone taking a pleasure
flight in a cessna 172, for example,” he
observes. nonetheless, while things are
improving, at present there is still a lack
of general aviation experience in china,
and a similar scarcity of infrastructure
to support it, including pilots, engineers,
training schools and airstrips.
But there is no doubt the chinese
authorities understand these limitations,
and have factored in the need for a stream
of new trained personnel. cAiB has plans
in hand for new partnerships to develop
flight training schools, and has partnered
with experienced organisations to develop
other infrastructure.

Overhauling MRO
chinese airlines currently spend around
Us$4.4 billion in annual maintenance, a
figure that is expected to rise to Us$7.8
billion by 2020. And the country is also
keen to play a bigger role in the global
market – as a provider, not simply a
consumer of services.
As things stand, two of the largest
Mro providers in china are gAMeco, a
jV between china southern Airlines and
Hutchinson Whampoa, and Ameco Beijing,
a jV between lufthansa technik and Air
china. gAMeco provides Mro services for
Boeing, Airbus and embraer airframes and
components; while Ameco Beijing performs 737s, 767s and 747s, 747-8s and 777s, and
heavy maintenance on 737s, 747s, 767s, 777s is planning double its size by 2014.
and A340s, overhauls rolls-royce, pratt & Zhu Xiao, executive director of Ameco
Whitney and cFMi engines, and supports Beijing’s sales and supply division says the
10,000 components, including landing gear, Mro sector’s rapid growth is being driven
wheels and brakes, hydraulics, pneumatics, by several factors. “increasing travel
mechanics and avionics. Very impressive for demands from the burgeoning middle Beijing-based Ameco (top)
is probably the biggest
a region that many reports still describe as class has become the main driver of air player in the Chinese
“developing markets”. transport demand growth,” he comments. market at the moment.
on a slightly smaller scale, Boeing “in order to satisfy this demand, airlines are Naturally, its competitors,
shanghai Aviation services is another jV bound to expand their production capacity, of which Lufthansa Technik
between Boeing, china eastern Airlines leading to rapid development of the Mro Shenzhen (above) is one,
and shanghai pudong Airport. it maintains sector as a downstream business.” are working to oust it”
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