LETTERS: With airlines expanding their fleets due to the surge in demand for travel, Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) should consider expanding its engineering division to provide maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) services to other airlines and third parties.
Prior to the pandemic, Malaysia Airlines Aerospace Engineering (MAAE) was a globally renowned service provider, with six hangars at its peak — four at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAASA) in Subang and two at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
This was a week before the pandemic in February 2020.
With a customer base of over 100 airlines then, it had heavy maintenance capability for Airbus A380, Boeing 747, Boeing 777, Airbus A330, Airbus A320 and Boeing 737NG aircraft, component repair and overhaul, stripping and painting and training of technical staff.
MAAE was also certified by the Boeing Company as an authorised winglets contractor for the B737NG.
The pandemic grounded air travel and the civil aviation industry came to a halt, leaving many MRO service providers across the globe idle. In the midst of the pandemic, MAAE scaled down its operations to only two hangars at KLIA.
MAB has phased out the A380, B747 and B777 fleets. The airline currently operates six Airbus A350-900s, 14 Airbus A330-300s, five Airbus A330-200s, 41 737NGs and three 737-Max 8s.
The global MRO market was worth US$48.35 billion (RM221.89 billion) in 2022. It is projected to grow to US$58.54 billion (RM268.65 billion) by 2029, seeing a compounded annual growth rate of 3.2 per cent.
The growth rate can be attributed to fleet expansion. Growing demand for aircraft drives the MRO services market and its outlook looks bright.
According to Oliver Wyman's global fleet and MRO market forecast for 2023 to 2033, the number of aircraft will increase by a whopping 33 per cent to 36,000.
Oliver Wyman is an American management and consulting firm with a global presence. MAAE had contributed significantly to MAB's bottom line.
A heavy investment may be required to acquire equipment and tooling in order to rebuild MAAE's capacity and expand its capability to offer more services.
Thus, having made an impact on the global MRO market prior to the pandemic, MAB should give some thought to making its presence felt again.
WILLIAM DENNIS
Subang Jaya, Selangor
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
