Two major engine MRO facilities tipped for Middle East in next decade

The forecast came from Ian Taylor, Senior Manager, Sales & Commercial of Turbine Sales & Solutions Aerospace (TS&S) – the Mubadala Aerospace engine overhaul spin off from the engine services division of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies. Addressing the Airline Engineering & Maintenance Middle East conference, Taylor said the region could see engine MRO demand rise 83% outstripping that of any other region.

Taylor pointed out that currently the region had only five engine MRO facilities and yet another 452 aircraft were due to join its fleets “This will have a massive impact on the Middle East’s engine MRO business and the regional jet market is largely untouched,” he said. 

Telling delegates that the regional engine MRO landscape would evolve, he also posed a number of “key unanswered questions.” Firstly he said, would Emirates workshops take up capability for the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines it has ordered to power its 50 Airbus A380s due in service in 2016? Additionally he questioned would we see a future workshop in Qatar for the Pratt & Whitney GTF geared turbofan for which it was the launch customer?   

Taylor told delegates that the next 10 years will see UAE engine workshops handling 800 visits a year in just two current facilities. “The landscape will change. I estimate there will be two new major entrants into the Middle East market. I suspect these will be in Saudi and Qatar. The region will become a very big technology sector.” 

Taylor tipped Turkey as “one to watch” saying “Turkey will become more competitive on costs and capabilities and will be a major hub particularly when the third airport comes on line in Istanbul.” 

The TS&S executive said current and future obstacles to regional growth are economic pressures including capital costs, emerging markets competition, living costs in the region impacting labour supply and political influence “which is key to OEM strategy,” he said. 

He went on to say that TS&S is working on “innovative material solutions” for the Trent 700 and is in talks with airlines and leasing companies. “In conjunction with partners, this will give us the opportunity to change the market for Trent access at this time. There are common materials across engine types that could go into the Trent 700.”