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Garuda’s unit GMF to build 4 more hangars in 5 years

Aircraft maintenance: PT GMF AeroAsia president director Richard Budihadianto (left) and B/E Aerospace corporate director Robert Khoury (second right) exchange a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as Industry Minister MS Hidayat (center), Transportation Ministry’s air transportation director general Herry Bakti (right) and Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar look on at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Wednesday

Nurfika Osman (The Jakarta Post)
Cengkareng
Thu, January 31, 2013

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Garuda’s unit GMF to build 4 more hangars in 5 years

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span class="inline inline-none">Aircraft maintenance: PT GMF AeroAsia president director Richard Budihadianto (left) and B/E Aerospace corporate director Robert Khoury (second right) exchange a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as Industry Minister MS Hidayat (center), Transportation Ministry’s air transportation director general Herry Bakti (right) and Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar look on at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Wednesday. GMF AeroAsia will be a partner in maintaining and repairing aircraft interiors for the US company. (Antara/Ismar Patrizki)

In a bid to capitalize on the growth of the aviation industry in the country, PT GMF AeroAsia has projected to build four more hangars over the next five years.

GMF, the subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, will spend around Rp 500 billion (US$51 million) on each hangar they develop until 2018.

GMF president director Richard Budihadianto said the hangars would be built in Cengkareng (Banten), Medan (North Sumatra), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Biak (Papua).

“The aviation sector continues to grow in Indonesia as airlines expand their fleets. Thus, we need more capability and capacity to maintain and repair the aircraft to support the businesses as well as to help enhance [aviation] safety,” Richard said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of new Hangar 4 in Cengkareng, Banten, near Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

He said that the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) market in the country had increased by 15 to 20 percent annually for the past few years on the back of strong economic performance.

“Similar growth has also occurred in the Asia Pacific as carriers operating in this region have added more planes in anticipation of a growing demand, making the MRO business more promising in the future,” he said.

The additional four hangars will significantly increase GMF capacity to maintain and repair planes to at least 200 aircraft a year. Currently, the firm only has the capacity to repair less than 100 planes annually, both from domestic and international customers.

GMF aims to operate eight hangars by the end of 2020.

During the ceremony of new Hangar 4, GMF also signed a Letter of Intent with B/E Aerospace, worldwide leading manufacturer of aircraft passenger cabin interior products for the commercial and business jet aircraft markets. The company officially became a B/E Aerospace approved service center.

“Now, we are expanding our business into repairing seats, galleys, and [aircraft] cabin interiors. This will help us boost revenues,” he went on. He said that the firm eyes a 21 percent growth in revenues in 2014 to $315 million from projected $260 million in 2013.

Industry Minister MS Hidayat, who attended the ceremony, said that Indonesia should become a leading country in the MRO sector in Southeast Asia. “Indonesia has so much potential in the MRO sector given the fact that the airline industry continues to grow stronger here. We should set a target to become a leading country in this sector in the coming years,” Hidayat said.

He said that domestic MRO companies only enjoy 30 percent of the whole MRO market share in the country, leaving the giant 70 percent to foreign companies.

The whole MRO market was worth $850 million throughout 2012 and the figure is expected to increase by 15 percent this year.

On Wednesday, GMF began the construction on its fourth hangar in Cengkareng, with an investment of $50 million.

The new Hangar 4 will be constructed on a 64,000 square-meter plot of land and will be equipped with a purpose docking platform for C-checks or heavy maintenance of narrow-body aircraft, such as the B737 and A320 family.

The hangar will be able to house up to 16 narrow-body aircraft at one time.

Besides Hidayat, Transportation Deputy Minister Bambang Susantono, Transportation Ministry’s air transportation director general Herry Bhakti Gumay, Sriwijaya Air owner Chandra Lie, and Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar attended the Hangar 4 project kick-off.

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