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Hong Kong business aviation consulting company
Asian Sky Group (ASG) has released its inaugural Asia Pacific Infrastructure
Report.
Showcasing the region’s need for more business
aviation infrastructure, the report details and analyzes the number of FBOs,
MROs and international airports considering growing passenger traffic and
increased aircraft fleet sizes.
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“ASG’s Infrastructure Report highlights one of
the industry’s greatest challenges,” says ASG Managing Director,
Jeffrey Lowe.
“Within the next two years alone, Beijing, Manila and Singapore will reach
runway capacity. Hong Kong is already over capacity. Terminals are no better
with eight of the top 11 airports in Asia already classified as ‘full’.”
Lowe continues: “An important element of a
healthy, sustainable business and general aviation industry is the required
infrastructure to support it. By clearly showing current numbers and capacity,
the report defines the aviation industry’s most significant infrastructure
issues, in hopes of tackling them.” |
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ASG M.D. Jeffrey Lowe. |
Highlights of the report:
- There are 1,017 airports in the
Asia-Pacific region, including airports with paved runway of 5,000-feet or
greater length. 61 fixed-base operators (FBOs) serve the region’s growing
number of business jets, along with 205 maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO)
providers for fixed-wing and helicopters, operated by 188 FBO and MRO
companies.
- Overall, the Asia-Pacific region has 21
factory-owned service centers and 93 authorized service centers. A unique
feature of the MRO market in Asia Pacific is the number of country aviation
authority approvals needed to service or provide maintenance on an aircraft
registered there or in an offshore jurisdiction.
- Hong Kong faces the most severe
over-capacity issue in the region. With 130 business jets based in the city
and an influx of traffic from around the world, the international hub is
underserved with only one FBO, four fixed-wing MROs, one piston helicopter
MRO and limited parking capacity.
- Australia is the most-developed market,
in terms of infrastructure, reflecting a mature market that more closely
identifies with the US and Europe, rather than that of the Asia-Pacific
region. The country has 249 airports, 19 FBOs, 34 helicopter MROs and 14
fixed-wing MROs.
- Singapore’s Seletar Airport is primarily
dedicated to business and general aviation, adjacent to the Seletar
Aerospace Park home to both OEM factory-owned service centers from the likes
of Rolls Royce, Bombardier and Textron, as well as major independent MROs
like Hawker Pacific and Jet Aviation, with multiple OEM service center
authorizations and numerous country approvals. Singapore’s Changi Airport is
the other airport located on the island, handling commercial traffic.
- China does not yet have the institutional
capability to perform heavy checks, with consistency, and suffers from tax
issues on parts importation, but is still expected to grow as an MRO center,
as its fleet ages and its capability improves. China currently features
several developing MRO service centers, including factory owned MROs from
Gulfstream in Beijing and Bombardier in Tianjin, while Hawker Pacific
Shanghai provides authorized service center work for Falcon and Cessna
aircraft.
- In terms of passenger traffic, Beijing
Capital International, Haneda International in Tokyo, Hong Kong
International and Shanghai Pudong airports are among the top regional
airports exceeding passenger traffic and runway capacity. Indonesia (Halim -
Jakarta), Thailand (Don Muang - Bangkok) and Malaysia (Subang - Kuala
Lumpur) are country-specific examples of secondary airports in major cities
that cater to business jets and helicopters, where the primary airports have
an excess of commercial traffic.
Adding knowledge and insight to the report,
ASG spoke with some of the foremost regional experts who added commentary on the
general state of infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region and how respective
companies are handling this growing issue. Included is an in-depth article,
contributed by Aviation Consultant David Best, discussing the status of the
region’s infrastructure, compared to the more developed US market. Also featured
are numerous profiles include leading regional FBO Hong Kong Business Aviation
Centre (HKBAC), operator and maintenance provider Metrojet, global business
aviation company Jet Aviation, Bombardier Business Aircraft and its Singapore
service center, and China-based ground handling company Fastransit.
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