SHAH ALAM: A new state-of-the-art maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hangar has been launched, marking a new milestone for the local aviation MRO industry, says Sim Tze Tzin.
The Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister said the hangar, which is operated by Base Maintenance Malaysia (BMM), further strengthens Malaysia’s position to be a major player in the MRO regional ecosystem.
A subsidiary of SIA Engineering Company Ltd, BMM’s new hangar is also expected to help accelerate the development of local talents in the MRO industry, Sim said, adding that this will be achieved with the introduction of technologies that are designed to support the MRO of next-generation wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A350, Boeing 777 and Boeing 787.
Wide-body refers to aircraft with a fuselage diameter of at least five metres and equipped with two passenger aisles.
Also known as twin-aisle aircraft, they can seat seven to 10 passengers abreast in economy, and carry anywhere from 200 to over 800 persons.
“BMM also said it has plans to double its hangar workforce from 350 to 700 by next year.
“As such, not only will local Malaysian talents be sent to Singapore for world-class MRO training but specialists from SIA will also travel to Malaysia to help train the local talents here,” he said in a press conference following the opening ceremony of the new hangar here yesterday.
Sim said the new hangar reflected the type of high-value and capability-driven investment the country needs to achieve its goal of the local MRO industry reaching RM55bil annual revenue by 2030.
Located near the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, the new hangar features a dashboard that tracks all aspects of an aircraft currently undergoing maintenance and provides an estimated date for its return to operation.
BMM chief executive officer Lee Yang Loong said their second hangar at Subang Airport is also expected to be ready for operations by the end of this year.
To this, he said the goal is to ramp up manpower training and ensure all processes are on par so that MRO operations at both hangars are of the highest standard in both quality and safety.
“The eventual goal is to develop Malaysia as another core MRO hub in the region, and we plan to look at further investments if it makes sense after the second hangar is completed.
“With 95% of our staff being Malaysian, we also plan to set up more training facilities in Malaysia to not just support our local operations but all MRO talent development in the region,” he said in a press conference after the launch.
He added that once the second hangar is operational, BMM will have the combined capacity to perform up to six concurrent aircraft MRO operations here.
