Air France Industries Expands Asian Airline Support

From its primary role of providing technical support for the Air France fleet, Air France Industries sees the Far East as a key area for expansion of customized services, to provide similar maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities through partnerships with local airlines.

In China, in particular, AFI has been actively prospecting the potentially massive MRO market, as reflected in the opening of a second regional office in Shanghai last month.

The Shanghai office supplements AFI's original office in Beijing, AFI business development VP Ludovic Loisel said here yesterday, covering an increasing volume of business in both China and neighboring countries, including Thailand and Vietnam. His colleague, AFI components support VP Bruno Delile, said Asia accounts for about 20% of the total airline component market for such aircraft as the Airbus A320/330/340 and Boeing 737 and 777, and is still expanding, at some 6% per year.

In the three main markets of China, South Korea and the rest of Southeast Asia, where China alone has 34 commercial carriers, including Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern, turnover has doubled in the past two years. Among major AFI developments have been partnership agreements in March 2001 with China Eastern and Vietnam Airlines, for skills and engineering transfers to allow both operators to undertake their own heavy maintenance checks.

AFI is providing heavy maintenance and servicing for China Eastern's fleet of A340s and CFM56-5C engines, overhauling these, CFM56s and CF6-80C2 engines for Air China, and providing component support for Vietnam Airlines's 10 Airbus A320s.

In September 2001, AFI signed an agreement with Vietnam Airlines for full support of its of CFM56-5B engines. In the following month, it received an MRO contract from Asiana, Korea's second biggest carrier, for the thrust-reversers of its 80 GE CF6-80 and 44 CFM56 turbofans powering Boeing 737s, 747s and 767s.

By John Fricker