After seeing its home fleet of airliners more than double to 350 since 2000, Turkey aims to be one of the major MRO players in the region. Some $500 million is earmarked for private investment in new facilities over the next five years.
Its biggest advantage is a man-hour cost 30% lower than in Europe, but it also benefits from geographic closeness to operators in Russia, the Caucasus and the Mediterranean.
The primary player isflag carrier Turkish Airlines, which has two hangars at Istanbul Ataturk airport under the management of wholly owned subsidiary Turkish Technic.
A $400 million project called Habom will create a new MRO centre in Istanbul's second airport Sabiha Gokcen.
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© Tolga OzbekTurkish Technic and MNG Technic dominate Turkey's growing MRO scene |
Turkish Technic general manager Ismail Demir says: "With a 130-aircraft fleet, Turkish Airlines became one of the major players in Europe. We decided to look to manufacturers [for partnerships], especially on components, and increase our engineering capacity to continue our way."
Turkish Airlines' initial partner is Pratt & Whitney and Habom's first step involves an engine shop for CFM56 and V2500 engines. Demir says that by the end of the year the facility will have a 1,500m2 (16,150ft2) hangar and other facilities including an engine test cell will take that to 25,000m2. The intention is to handle 200 engines annually with 550 licensed technicians.
The second phase of Habom involves building one hangar with 12 narrowbody bays ready for operation in late 2011,and a second for three widebodies the following year.
Demir says Turkish is seeking further foreign partners to help build its component maintenance capability. "We have talked with Thales, Honeywell, Goodrich, and Panasonic about joint ventures. In components, sales are greater than for main aircraft maintenance. So these joint ventures should add new engineering capabilities. Our aim is to gain capacity for things like VIP conversions," says Demir.
Last month Turkish Technic also opened a hangar at Ankara's Esenboga Airport to support the Boeing 737s of Turkish Airlines' regional airline subsidiary Anadolu Jet and it is considering a maintenance facility at the Antalya base of the SunExpress leisure carrier it owns jointly with Lufthansa.
SERIOUS COMPETITION
But the company has serious competitionfrom the country's largest private MRO operator MNG Technic at Istanbul Ataturk airport.
The company is a sister to MNG Airlines in the MNG Group, but 93% of its business is for third parties. It says it maintained 66 aircraft last year. This year it is increasing capacity by about 10% and forecasts $43 million revenue.
But it is its ambitious growth plans that have caused ripples. The company operates at present in a 5,000m2 hangar but it is moving to 25,000m2 of hangarage on the other side of Ataturk airport's runway where it plans to build still more.
The new hangar is planned to be finished by September 2010 and will include a 5,000m2 paintshop. Total investment for the first phase is around $100 million. Down the line, the company has said it intends to create a facility capable of handling 45 aircraft at once with a 2,000-strong workforce.
CHASING THE LEADERS
Chasing the two leaders is year-old Mytechnic, owned by ACT Cargo Airlines chief executive Yavuz Cizmeci, which has already performed 40 aircraft and engine overhauls.
The Mytechnic facility is situated on 60,000m2 of land at Sabiha Gokcen and includes 15,400m2 of hangarage and 6,000m2 of engine shops. It focuses on Airbus A300, the Boeing 737 Classic and NG families, and the MD-80 series. The engine work is on General Electric CF6s, primarily on A300s.
In addition, the companyhas an agreement with Turkish Airlines to maintain and paint four aircraft a month.
Source: Flight International
