The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has recognized ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia as a facility that could be used by Chinese-registered aircraft.

ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia is servicing clients across the Asia-Pacific region. “In fact, 95 percent of our business comes from customers from outside of Malaysia,” Ivan Lim, vice-president of ExecuJet MRO Services Asia, told AIN. 

Lim explained his company has already secured some airframe heavy maintenance business as a result of getting the approval from the CAAC. “In fact, the impetus for ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia applying for approval, to be a Part 145 maintenance organization approved by CAAC, is because some business jet operators in China had approached ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia asking us to provide heavy maintenance checks on their aircraft.” But before it could proceed to do that: “We first had to be approved by CAAC as a Part 145 maintenance organization.”

The company also does avionics upgrades and modifications. This can include, for example, installation of TCAS (traffic and collision avoidance systems), weather radar, and ADS-B equipment. While it does not do engine overhauls, it can remove and reinstall the engine, said Lim.

Unwilling to give a dollar figure for MRO work from China likely to be procured from China, Lim said prospects looked lucrative, with China as the biggest business aviation market in Asia-Pacific. By the end of 2018, according to Lim, there were around 340 business jets in China. “To put that in perspective, there are 60 to 70 business jets in Malaysia…the biggest business jet market in Southeast Asia. But China is much bigger.”

ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia has plans to increase its 64,000-sq-ft facility at Subang Airport that includes hangar and adjacent office and workshops. “We are speaking to the Malaysian authorities about building a new, larger maintenance facility at the airport.” Plans are to relocate from the current facility to the new facility at the airport, where changes are being made to build a terminal for the FBO separate from the present space it shares with commercial aviation.