Rolls-Royce and Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (HAECO) are planning to open their new joint-venture engine-test and overhaul site at Tseung Kwan O at the end of February.
Phase one of the new $120 million Hong Kong Aero Engine Services (HAESL) centre is now virtually complete. Its 580kN (130,000lb)-thrust engine-test cell has been finished, and an adjacent module-change and repair site is now in the final stages of being fitted out. HAESL expects to be given a Hong Kong Government occupant permit shortly.
HAESL will start work immediately, with priority being given to R-R Trent 700 and 800 engines. "We will progressively transfer RB.211-524 engines by the middle of the year, with all module change and testing being done at the new site," says HAESL director and general manager Tom Begley.
Initial plans call for a throughput of 150 engines in 1997, of which 15 will be Trent 700/800 engines for HAESL sister company Cathay Pacific Airways and a third-party airline. The remainder include 110 RB.211-524 engines spilt equally between C/D and G/H models.
The company is keen to focus on attracting new third-party Trent 700/800 work to Hong Kong from within the Asia-Pacific region. It has just signed a contract with Garuda Indonesia to provide test and overhaul support for its Trent 700 engines, which recently entered service with the airline's first Airbus A330-300.
HAESL is also planing to broaden its capabilities to include the overhaul of International Aero Engines V2500 family of turbofans from the end of the year.
Source: Flight International
