Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aerospace) announced that it secured new contracts worth $415 million (US$289 million) in the fourth quarter (4Q) of 2015, for projects ranging from airframe maintenance and cabin interiors reconfiguration, to engine wash and landing gear overhaul.
The total contract value includes the recently announced cabin reconfiguration contract awarded by Air Canada, the landing gear maintenance contract from Scandinavian Airlines and the heavy maintenance contract for Virgin Galactic’s B747-400.
Included in the 4Q2015 contracts are line and heavy airframe maintenance agreements for various customers, supporting aircraft types such as A300, A320, B747-400, B757, B767, B777 and MD-10, as well as cabin interior modifications of an international airline’s fleet of E175. Separately, its Hondo-based facility was awarded a B737-300 aircraft part-out contract.
For component support, in addition to the landing gear maintenance contract from the Scandinavian Airlines fleet of B737-600/700/800 and Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft, ST Aerospace secured several ATR landing gear overhaul contracts from customers in the Asia Pacific region. The aerospace arm also won additional contracts for landing gear services with ASEAN airline operators, and expanded its engine component support for East Asian customers.
Multiple contracts have also been sealed with customers in Asia Pacific, Europe and the US for EcoPower engine wash services. In particular, following a long-term Do-It-Yourself/Franchise agreement recently signed with Japan Airlines Engineering Company, a second unit of the EcoPower wash equipment is now deployed at Haneda Airport, in addition to one earlier deployed at Narita Airport, to carry out engine washes for aircraft operators in Tokyo, Japan.
The aerospace sector redelivered a total of 308 aircraft for airframe maintenance and modification work in 4Q2015. This included the redelivery of two converted freighters to SF Airlines which are the region’s first 15-pallet B757-200SF converted freighter developed by ST Aerospace, with a supplemental type certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration. The first B767-300BCF converted freighter redelivered through Boeing, to an airline in China.
In addition to airframe redeliveries, a total of 11,292 components, 41 landing gears and 33 engines were processed, while 1,487 engine washes were conducted for both commercial and military customers.
On aircraft capability, the aerospace sector’s airframe facility in Guangzhou received maintenance organisational approval from the Korean Office of Civil Aviation for B737NG aircraft, extending the geographical range of its maintenance capabilities.
Spotlighting on pilot training in Singapore, the first batch of Qatar Airways’ MPL cadet pilots has graduated to become First Officers to fly Airbus A320 aircraft for the airline’s revenue flights. Meanwhile, its US flight training academy is upgrading its Hondo facility to double training capacity, to accommodate the expected cadet increase by end of 2016.
On component MRO, the aerospace sector added new capabilities for the B787 electrical systems and continued induction of high value repair capabilities for both wide-body and narrow-body aircraft platforms.
The above developments are not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current financial year.
