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SINGAPORE: Aircraft engineering firm ST Aerospace says it expects full capacity for its new hangars at the Seletar Aerospace Park, where it provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services.
The company officially opened one hangar on Tuesday, and also started work on another, to be completed next year.
The Seletar Aerospace Park is seen as key to efforts to build Singapore into a hub for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul activities.
ST Aerospace, one of the main occupants in the park, now has three operating hangars providing such services to clients like AirAsia, LionAir, and ANA.
And even as it starts work on a fourth hangar, the company is optimistic of the demand coming on line.
"We're very confident it will be filled. Normally, you'll see that we build our facilities on an incremental basis, meaning we build each facility and then we plan the next. In that way we make sure we don't end up with a lot of excess capacity, which is very costly. And so far, we have managed to fill every facility almost by the day that it's completed," says Tay Kok Khiang, President, ST Aerospace.
The boom in maintenance, repair and overhaul work is being fuelled by rapidly growing budget airlines in the region.
To support the growth, Seletar's master-planner JTC will start upgrading the site from later this year.
"As part of the masterplan, the Seletar Airport runway will be extended, with additional upgrading works done for the apron and taxiway. Upgrading will also be done for the power network, air traffic control communications systems and the terminal building. We are on track to begin site works from the second half of 2007 and will commence allocating industrial land to companies later this year," says Trade & Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang.
According to industry experts, the runway may need to be lengthened to 1.8 kilometres - from 1.2 km currently, to support bigger aircraft.
ST Aerospace is the aerospace arm of ST Engineering - and one of best performing units of the Group last year. - CNA/yy
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