A leading French aeronautic services company plans to set up an aircraft parts processing and trading centre in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis, which will generate thousands of jobs and open up a lucrative industry as the first of its kind in Asia, the Post has learned.
A source said on Thursday that Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po would explain the details of setting up the facility and its partnership with the French service provider next week.
The deal underlined Hong Kong’s new role as stipulated by Chinese Premier Li Qiang in the central government’s annual work report on Wednesday that the city should deepen international exchanges and cooperation to help the country further open up amid rising US-China rivalry.
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In his budget address last week, Chan revealed plans to develop Hong Kong as Asia’s first aircraft parts processing and trading centre.
He said Hong Kong’s Airport Authority had signed a memorandum of understanding with a leading overseas professional aeronautic services company to explore the possibility of providing professional services such as aircraft dismantling, parts recycling and related training in the city.
On Monday, Chan revealed in the Post’s “Redefining Hong Kong” forum that it was a leading French aerospace company.
The insider said: “For Hong Kong to establish itself into an aircraft parts processing and trading centre in Asia it needs to provide sufficient land for the company to offer the services.
“Potentially a site in the vicinity of the Northern Metropolis will be granted to the firm for operations.
“Every year there are aircraft to retire and be dismantled into parts for trading and recycling. If the city can turn itself into such a parts processing centre, it will attract Asian and global airlines as well as other buyers and investors here. The business is huge.”
The source said the French company was expected to work with the Hong Kong International Aviation Academy to provide training for local aeronautic personnel.
“The firm is expected to create thousands of jobs and training places. With Hong Kong now seeking to attract foreign enterprises to invest in the city, the aeronautic firm will act as a leading impetus for enticing investors for other related business,” the insider said.
“This also further consolidates Hong Kong’s status as an international aviation hub as entrusted by Beijing.”
Under the Northern Metropolis scheme, 30,000 hectares (74,130 acres) of land in the New Territories near the border with mainland China will be turned into an economic powerhouse and housing hub.
The global commercial aircraft disassembly, dismantling and recycling market size is projected to grow from US$8.1 billion in 2023 to US$14.7 billion by 2033.
An increase in aircraft retirements is driving market growth, with a trend towards a rise in the number of recycling and dismantling facilities for planes.
It is estimated that about 400 to 450 aircraft are dismantled and recycled each year. Aircraft are made of around 800 to 1,000 recyclable parts including metal alloys such as aluminium and titanium and composite materials such as carbon fibre.
The circular economy and growing reusable capabilities of aircraft components are expected to drive growth of the global market between 2023 and 2033.
Hong Kong’s aeronautic ambitions come at a time when Beijing urged the city to deepen international exchanges and cooperation.
In the government work report he delivered at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on Wednesday, the country’s No 2 official said an “increasingly complex and severe external environment” could have a greater impact on China, but the country was ready to work with the international community to promote “universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation”.
In the section dedicated to Hong Kong and Macau, Li said Beijing supported the two special administrative regions in “growing their economies, improving the lives of their people, and deepening international exchanges and cooperation”.
A spokeswoman for the Transport and Logistics Bureau said the Airport Authority and the aeronautic firm involved would decide how to operate the services.
“The demand for the relevant services is expected to rise with the increasing demand for aircraft maintenance and the increasing number of decommissioned aircraft,” she said.
“Noting that the major service providers are currently based in Europe and the United States, we anticipate that there is a huge room for development of such business in Asia in the light of the rapid development of the aviation industry in the region.”
More from South China Morning Post:
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- Western countries would envy Hong Kong’s financial position, experts say
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