Partners set sights on Middle East nacelle market

ST Engineering and Spirit AeroSystems have signed an exclusive cooperation agreement to jointly target the nacelle MRO market in the Middle East.

Image: ST Engineering

Under the deal, Spirit and ST Engineering's Commercial Aerospace business will support customers in countries including Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman with aircraft engine nacelle MRO solutions.

The two companies said in a press release they will bring together their expertise and “wealth of experience” across various aircraft platforms to jointly market and offer competitive value propositions. The companies intend to support a significant portion of commercial aircraft variants to operators in the Middle East.

Spirit AeroSystems' expertise include the design, build and repair of select components on the nacelles of the Boeing 737 NG/MAX, 747, 757, 777, as well as the Airbus A320ceo and A330, while ST Engineering has expertise in design, build and repair of select components on the nacelles of the Boeing 747, 767 and Airbus A330, A320neo. ST Engineering also has MRO licences for the Boeing 787 and Airbus A320neo LEAP engine nacelles, and MRO expertise in the A320ceo and Boeing 737 NG/MAX.

Kailash Krishnaswamy, senior vice-president of Spirit Aftermarket Services, said: "The cooperation will allow two strong MRO players to offer one-stop, comprehensive MRO solutions for our Middle Eastern customers. We will be able to pool our resources, offer our joint MRO capacity, and coordinate with our recently announced regional partners Joramco and GMR to deliver best-value MRO solutions. We are excited about the potential of this long-term exclusive cooperation in the region.”

Goh Poh Loh, executive vice-president and head of Component Services at ST Engineering, said: "By bringing together the expertise and solution suites of both companies, ST Engineering and Spirit AeroSystems can cater to much of the nacelle MRO needs of operators in the Middle East. Under such an arrangement, customers can have the convenience of one-stop shop services and yet enjoy a wide scope of services, which we believe is a huge value add that allows airlines to focus better on their flight operations."

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