Maintenance providers AAR and Airod plan to open a joint venture facility at Kuala Lumpur's Subang airport to service landing gear for potential Asian airline customers.
The companies signed a memorandum of understanding last month, but the planned joint venture will not be formally established until a launch customer is secured.
Industry sources say the Malaysian and US companies have submitted bids in response to maintenance tenders from several Asian airlines, including Malaysia Airlines (MAS). They say the facility is likely to service MAS Boeing 737 landing gear initially and then add larger aircraft types.
AAR and Airod are preparing to establish a new, as-yet unnamed, joint-venture company. About 30 to 40 Airod engineers will be trained by AAR and employed by the joint venture. The joint venture gives AAR its first facility in Asia. The company now has only a customer service and sales office in Singapore.
AAR currently sends all landing gear to its Florida facility, including from Asian customers such as Vietnam Airlines. The company believes opening a facility in Malaysia will improve its chances of winning contracts from Asian airlines. "It's tough to ship landing gear half-way round the world and be competitive," says one industry source.
For Airod, the joint venture furthers its plan to diversify its business, which now caters predominantly for the military sector. Airod's small commercial aircraft maintenance capability is currently limited to airframe overhauls of Boeing 737s and Fokker F28s.
Airod already has a small landing gear shop servicing Malaysian air force Lockheed Martin C-130s and Pilatus PC-7s.
BRENDAN SOBIE / SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International