Layang Layang Aerospace, a Malaysian operator of charter flights, plans to offer regional general aviation operators maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services in East Malaysia.
The company received its MRO certificate from Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation last week. Managing director Johan Poong Abdullah says that this makes Layang Layang the first company to offer MRO services for small aircraft and light helicopters in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. “We can also offer aviation companies in countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, which go to Singapore for their MRO now, the option of using our facilities instead,” he adds.
The company has hangars and maintenance facilities in Sabah’s capital Kota Kinabalu, and at Miri in Sarawak. These are used to provide MRO services to the company’s fleet of three fixed wing aircraft – a Shorts Skyvan and two GAF Nomad N22s – and a Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter. It will also take delivery of a Eurocopter BO105 in October. Collectively, they provide charter and aeromedical services in East Malaysia.
Layang Layang also plans to reactivate a 26-seater Antonov 38 it owns to ply domestic routes, says Johan. The aircraft is currently in storage in Russia, and the company expects to receive it around end-2006 and start services by March 2007. Flights between Sandakan in Sabah and Zamboanga in southern Philippines are one of the routes being considered.
Source: Flight International
