Rolls-Royce’s engine maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business in Singapore, Singapore Aero Engine Services (SAESL), has secured some land adjacent to its current site and will be using it for expansion.
A new 12,000m² two-storey building will be built on the site at a cost of S$60 million ($42 million), says SAESL outgoing CEO, John Horsburgh, who is leaving to become chief operating officer of the aircraft engine assembly plant R-R is building at Singapore’s Seletar airport.
Today R-R and SAESL’s other joint venture partners – Singapore Airlines Engineering and Hong Kong Aero Engine Services – held a ground breaking ceremony to promote SAESL’s latest expansion and to announce that Gary Nutter has become SAESL’s CEO.
SAESL’s new building, which will connect to the existing building, will become operational in June 2009, says Nutter, who was previously business director of R-R’s Aero Repair and Overhaul division in Derby.
The expansion will increase SAESL’s total floor space to 30,000m² and increase its work capacity to 250 engines per year from 200, he says.
SAESL maintains Trent 500, Trent 700, Trent 800 and Trent 900 engines. The Trent 900 powers the Airbus A380 and Nutter says it has secured Trent 900 customers: Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, China Southern Airlines and Etihad Airways.
SAESL will also be handling overhaul work on Trent XWB engines used to power Airbus A350XWB aircraft, adds Nutter.
Nutter also says the expansion of SAESL will increase SAESL’s workforce to around 800 employees from just over 700 now.
Horsburgh says SAESL has two work shifts – the first shift starts at 07:00hr, while the second shift starts at 16:15hr and ends at 01:15 the next day.
If the company needs to increase capacity further “it could go to a third shift if it needed to”, he adds.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
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Source: FlightGlobal.com
