Third player set to enter MRO market as Swiss firm discusses link with Qantas
SR Technics is likely to seek to extend its innovative asset-based financing after the maintenance, repair and overhaul specialist revealed that it was discussing a possible joint venture with Qantas to provide Airbus A380 customers with component support.
The decision by Swiss-based SR Technics to investigate partnering Qantas signals the emergence of a third player in the A380 component support marketplace, joining Air France Industries/Lufthansa Technik joint venture Spairliners and OEM Services, an effort by French equipment suppliers Thales Avionics, Liebherr Aerospace, Zodiac In-Services and Diehl Avionik System to pool maintenance, support and logistics.
Mike Humphreys, chief executive of SR Technics UK, declines to specify how the two partners would seek to fund the heavy investment in A380 component stocks should the venture go ahead, but is confident this is not a concern. “We’ll be talking to Qantas exactly about those issues, but we believe the funds are available,” he says.
SR Technics last year struck a $325 million asset-based finance deal with General Electric Commercial Aviation Services – essentially a loan facility used in part to fund $1 billion-worth of rotable assets. “This supports SR’s existing and new customers, but only within our current product range,” says Humphreys.
SR Technics chairman Frank Turner last year said SR’s move into asset-based finance, which allows moveable assets to be valued as collateral, could be applied in a joint venture for the component support of a minimum 25 A380s.
Humphreys says the venture will target an A380 Asia-Pacific customer base, where six airlines have 49 A380s on firm order.
Qantas, which has ordered 12 A380s for delivery from April 2007, says it has been in talks with industry players about an A380 component inventory management and supply business and that, after the signing of the non-binding memorandum of understanding with SR, issues such as an operational base and investment will be discussed.
The airline adds that it has discussed the possibility of joint A380 heavy maintenance with other A380 customers, including Air France, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. Qantas adopted a similar approach when it introduced the Boeing 747, forming a support partnership with United Airlines.
SR Technics is also setting up a maintenance and technical training and consulting joint venture, Shanghai SR Aircraft Technics, with Shanghai Foreign Aviation Service. Operations will begin at Shanghai airport in April, and more locations and products could follow.
EMMA KELLY / PERTH & AIMEE TURNER / LONDON
Source: Flight International
