Singapore-based ST Engineering is exploring the setting up of an airframe MRO joint venture (JV) in Vietnam with Vietnam Airlines and other potential airline partners to cater to Vietnam Airlines (VNA) and the Asia Pacific region’s rising needs for Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services. The JV will operate out of Vietnam Airlines’ facilities located at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City to provide base maintenance services. This would be the second partnership between the two, with the first one being the Vietnam Singapore Technologies Engineering Aerospace, an aircraft components maintenance company, launched in 2019.
The joint venture will leverage the MRO expertise of ST Engineering, and the extensive networks of its airline partners to tap the growing MRO market in the region. According to industry forecasts, the commercial aircraft in-service fleet and the MRO demand in Asia-Pacific are estimated to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5% and 5.0% respectively over the next decade.
ST Engineering is the world’s largest commercial airframe MRO provider by maintenance manhours, backed by a track record of over 15,000 commercial aircraft maintained and modified since 1990. It has a global network of facilities in the North America, Asia Pacific and Europe capable of accommodating 44 widebody, 26 narrowbody and 24 general aviation aircraft simultaneously.
Vietnam Airlines CEO Duong Tri Thanh anticipated that this establishment would “bring more aircraft and added value to Vietnam” and better the technical level of Vietnam’s aircraft maintenance industry, making the national airlines more competitive.
(Source: VnExpress; ST Engineering)
