Western airplane maintenance providers rush to sign Chinese contracts

Western aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul providers (MROs) signed a flurry of new contracts with Chinese customers and joint-venture partners at the country’s biggest air show this week to strengthen their foothold in the lucrative market. The quick rebound in traffic in China’s domestic aviation market to pre-COVID levels, coupled with large declines in other parts of the world, has made China even more important to providers trying to minimise pandemic-driven revenue hits. “China is key to the future of aerospace because the centre of gravity of passenger traffic is moving east,” Kailash Krishnaswamy, general manager at Spirit AeroSystems China, said on the sidelines of Airshow China in Zhuhai after signing a 10-year repair contract with cargo carrier SF Airlines. Spirit was attending the show for the first time. Consulting firm Oliver Wyman estimates China’s MRO market will be 8% larger this year than in 2019, making it one of two regions to surpass pre-pandemic levels, alongside eastern Europe. By 2031, it forecasts the MRO market in China will more than double its pre-COVID size to nearly $20b annually. Honeywell International is a major supplier to Commercial Aircraft Corp of China’s (COMAC) C919 narrowbody programme and is bidding for work on the Sino-Russian CR929 widebody, said its China president, Steve Lien.<br/>