Dallas Airmotive, a BBA Aviation company that officially opened its Singapore Regional Turbine Center (RTC) at Seletar Airport on Monday, expects business to come from some 650 jets in Asia including a mix of pre-owned jets and an ever-increasing new general aviation planes being purchased by China and emerging economies. There are many opportunities for growth in Asia, said BBA Aviation president Hugh McElroy, and Singapore’s business climate makes it the right place from which to achieve this growth.

The RTC will perform support services for the Honeywell TFE731 engine that will include major periodic inspections and line maintenance, plus line maintenance on Honeywell CFE738 and HTF7000 engines, and on 36 series and RE100 and RE220 APUs.

“There are a lot of new tails coming into the region,” said Rishiraj Singh, Honeywell’s director of business and general aviation for the Asia Pacific and China. “We expect our HTF7000 engines will have a sizeable market size.” The Honeywell HTF7000 is a turbofan engine that powers mid-size business jet applications. The first engine entered service in January 2005 on the Bombardier Challenger 300 corporate aircraft.

The Seletar facility will also support business from India. “That fits in well with our strategy. BBA has a field service office in Bangalore, India, which is part of Dallas Airmotive's mobile response team. Our Seletar facility will be a game-changer for customers in Asia. It will bring a [high] level of service to the doorstep and support ‘aircraft on ground’ in record time,” added McElroy.

BBA has also had a long-standing relationship with Asian military forces, offering “typical overhaul support,” and it now expects to offer new levels of service as a result of the RTC in Singapore. For example, India’s military offsets, which can now be extended to commercial aviation, may provide opportunities via Honeywell's partners in India such as Air Works, Magnum and Associated Air Support. 

With a lot of OEM activity in China, “What better than a Honeywell engine on China’s own general aviation jet?” asked Singh. “That will be music to our ears,” said McElroy.