Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and US-based Pemco Aviation Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at Asian Aerospace yesterday to establish a cargo conversion joint venture in Malaysia.
The Boeing 737 conversion programme will be based at the MAS facility in Subang and the partners say they expect to begin the first conversion later this year.
The two companies plan a training and exchange programme, which will allow Pemco to provide key technical supervision and training for the start-up of aircraft conversion capabilities at MAS. The next step will be a joint marketing team to offer freighter conversions to operators worldwide.
Pemco has a long-established cargo conversion business and its 737-300 conversion work holds a supplemental type certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Hal Chrisman, senior vice-president of corporate development at Pemco Aviation, says: "More and more, our customers are requesting conversions be completed in their region. We are pleased to be able to offer that to our friends in Southeast Asia.
Drive
"The B737-300 conversion programme is strong. We know this will be a mainstay for our business for the long-term future."
Encik Mohd Roslan Ismail, MAS general manager, engineering and maintenance, adds: "Our engineering maintenance support has been actively engaged in the company's turnaround initiatives started in 2002.
"Today's event is yet another achievement of our aggressive drive to expand and market our excellent technical and ground support expertise to customers worldwide."
Source: Flight Daily News
