JVs and Mergers To Define Mid East MRO Landscape, Conference Hears

A panel discussion at the Airline Engineering & Maintenance Middle East conference focussed on where key regional opportunities for the sector lay with a lack of OEM presence and labour shortages heading the agenda.

John Bowell, Managing Director of the newly-formed ADA Millennium – a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Aviation and the UK’s jcba, said the regional landscape of the future would be characterised by JVs and mergers.

“The rapid expansion in regional fleets will lead to a huge growth in MRO demand over the next 10 years,” he said while predicting demand could rise by up to 7% a year. “There are big moves towards in-house capabilities which opens up opportunity for MROs outside the region to come and get into play for business here.”
Fleet upgrades would also play a key role in demand upswing, he said. “We are looking at aircraft being retired younger. There may be a slight pause in aircraft retirement due to holding back on costs because of oil price downturns, but it’s going to happen and it’s going to open up opportunities in aircraft graveyards and component breakdown. Technology, new materials and IT are the sector opportunities that should convince people to make a presence here.”

Remzi Saltoglu, Director Commercial, myTECHNIC, the world’s first Lean Greenfield MRO based at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul said mergers and acquisitions were the way ahead to deliver wider networks with greater coverage and improved capabilities. “Full support capabilities are the way ahead in the coming years, including communications support,” he said.

The entire panel though warned that though the MRO market in the Middle East is set for a boom, it could be held back by skilled labour shortages which had to be addressed. The challenge, according to Ziad Al Hazmi, General Manager Gulf, Lufthansa Technik, is where training investment would come from. “Is it a governmental issue? Or an issue for the industry or the airlines? The discussion has to be had.”

John Bowell predicted that over the coming decade, the Middle East would require 11 million maintenance man hours a year. “The challenge most certainly will be acquiring the labour and skilled workforce. Investment is needed in training,” he warned.

For Altug Sokeli, Marketing & Sales Director, Turkish Technic, the labour shortage equation holds our enormous potential for governments. “Aviation is an area where governments can create employment, there are now opportunities for governments to provide training opportunities here. The way ahead is for governments to support co-operation between industry bodies and players.”