Capital A's engineering arm opens MRO facility in Senai Airport

Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim (left) receiving a gift from Capital A chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes (right) after the opening of Asia Digital Engineering maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hangar at Senai International Airport. - THOMAS YONG/The Star

KULAI: Asia Digital Engineering (ADE), the engineering arm of Capital A Bhd, is on track to have 21 maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) lanes by 2024.

This is set to materialise with the opening of ADE's new RM4mil MRO hangar facility in Senai Airport’s Free Industrial Zone (Safiz) here, focusing on delivering the best value, best-in-class MRO services with high efficiency across an extensive coverage of locations.

The 5,000 square metre hangar, built on 43.4ha of land at Safiz, is the first MRO facility at the Senai International Airport Aviation Park, and ADE’s third MRO facility after Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah (SAAS) Airport in Subang.

According to ADE chief executive officer Mahesh Kumar, the company now has seven lanes - one at KLIA, four at SAAS Airport and two at the new MRO facility in Safiz.

“We will have 14 MRO lanes soon as we are currently constructing another new MRO facility at KLIA Aeronautical Support Zone 1 (ASZ 1), which is expected to be completed by next year.

“This means that ADE will have 21 MRO lanes to provide services, not only for AirAsia planes, but also, for other commercial airlines within the region,” said Mahesh after the official opening of the company's new MRO hangar by Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim yesterday.

He noted the launching of ADE's aircraft maintenance hangar in Senai was a great milestone for ADE to kick-off this year.

“We are proud of our contribution to the growth in the Malaysian maintenance aerospace sector, especially at strategic development zones such as Johor.

Mahesh cited that Senai International Airport is strategically positioned, thus granting easy access to the rapidly growing countries in Asia Pacific.

In addition, Senai Airport Terminal Services (SATS) has also developed a comprehensive 20-year master plan to transform Senai International Airport and its surroundings to a world-class airport city.

“We see this as a golden opportunity to expand our presence and expertise in the MRO space, especially in bringing more foreign investments to the state and the nation in general through the aerospace industry,” he said.

Meanwhile, Capital A chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes thanked Tunku Ismail for gracing the event and his support in launching ADE's first hangar facility in Johor.

He also describes Johor as a state, which offers a new gold mine of opportunities that is a valuable asset to Malaysia’s ongoing economic development.

“Upon opening the doors to this hangar facility, it will further expand ADE’s presence in aircraft engineering to economically bustling countries in Asia Pacific.

“We are proud that ADE marks a milestone in disrupting and changing MRO services in a significant way, just like how AirAsia has disrupted and created a whole new market for travel more than 20 years ago.

“We owe a large part of AirAsia to the maintenance and high efficiency of ADE, and in turn, guarantee its fleet of work to ADE, which allows it to reduce costs for airlines, thus lowering fares for customers,” he added.

Given Capital A’s digital ecosystem with its investment into data, Fernandes said DE has greatly been able to benefit using data science to increase efficiency, reliability and productivity.

“As a 21st century engineering company driven by big data, we are sure ADE will put Johor and Malaysia firmly on the map as a world leading MRO provider for AirAsia and other third party airlines within the region,” he added.