New Chinese maintenance company Shandong TAECO Aircraft Engineering (STAECO) plans to expand its capabilities and customer base by mid-2000. The move is part of a wide-ranging expansion of maintenance capacity in China as established companies increase facilities and new entrants join the fray.
STAECO carries out maintenance below D checks for Shandong Airlines' five Boeing 737-300s and all maintenance work on the airline's eight Saab 340 turboprops. The company says it wants to develop 737 D check capabilities in six months and, with Shandong planning to acquire five Canadair Regional Jets, STAECO will add this type to its capabilities.
The company is a joint venture owned by Shandong Airlines (65%), Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (20%) and its Xiamen-based subsidiary, Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering (10%), with the remaining 5% held by Hong Kong Zhong Kai Engineering Consultant Service. The company was set up in March with a ¥ 40 million ($4.8 million) investment, and employs 140.
Its other customers include Air Great Wall, China Xinhua, Shenzhen Airlines and Wuhan Airlines (above). STAECO says it is in talks with Japan Transocean Air and hopes for Japanese certification, allowing it to add the carrier to its customer base in mid-2000.
At the same time, foreign maintenance repair and overhaul companies and manufacturers are lining up to establish more new joint ventures in China.
Switzerland's SR Technics is in talks with an unnamed Chinese airline to establish a full maintenance capability for Airbus narrowbodies and possibly for single-aisle Boeing aircraft. Three foreign companies are pushing to establish engine maintenance joint ventures in China as the country's maintenance, repair and overhaul industry continues to grow. Engine maintenance is the biggest perceived gap in China's domestic maintenance capacity, with a particular need for CFM International CFM56 support capabilities.
France's Snecma plans a joint venture with Chengdu-based China Southwest Airlines, General Electric is set to establish an overhaul facility in Xiamen and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace engine subsidiary MTU is talking to China Southern Airlines about a similar venture. Some senior industry officials doubt that China's market justifies all these ventures.
"There is not enough business for all of these [ventures]," says Dan Lange, general manager of Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance & Engineering (GAMECO), a market leader in China's maintenance, repair and overhaul field. GAMECO - a joint venture of China Southern, Lockheed Martin and Hutchison Whampoa (China) - has chosen to keep its own engine maintenance capability at a low level after examining the market.
GAMECO is expanding with a new facility at Wuhan, now a China Southern line maintenance and light A check facility. The project received approval from the State Planning Committee in May.
Source: Flight International
