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KUALA LUMPUR—Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) is making good progress in expanding its heavy maintenance facilities to meet the needs of its main customer, AirAsia, and an increasing number of third-party customers.
ADE—a subsidiary of Capital A—currently has two large hangars at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) that were opened in 2024. One has capacity for six narrowbodies or a mix of widebodies and narrowbodies, and the other can handle eight narrowbodies. The two hangars adjoin each other in an L-shape.
The company is in the process of constructing a third hangar at KLIA, which it expects to finish in September or October next year, ADE CEO Mahesh Kumar told Aviation Week.
The new hangar will have capacity for four narrowbodies or one widebody and one narrowbody.
Combined with ADE’s facility in Senai, Malaysia, which opened in 2023, the company will have a total of 20 narrowbody lines, boosting its status as one of the region’s largest narrowbody MRO providers.
When the latest building work at KLIA is completed, construction will begin on yet another hangar, Mahesh said. It will likely have capacity for at least six narrowbodies, Mahesh said. ADE is also considering building a maintenance hangar in Bahrain that will cater to a broader range of narrowbody operators in the Middle East and Europe.
ADE aims to have a total of 40 narrowbody lines within three to five years, Mahesh said.
In addition to the new hangars, ADE is also looking to expand its support capabilities. For example, it plans to add a components workshop, targeting fast-turnaround components.
The company handles about 70% of AirAsia’s maintenance work, with the rest outsourced to other MRO providers. It conducts heavy checks on the airline’s Airbus A330 widebodies as well as its Airbus narrowbodies.
About 10% of ADE’s work is for other airlines. One of its customers is Air France, which sends some A330s to KLIA under a deal announced in September. ADE is currently in discussions with another European widebody operator, Mahesh said. On the narrowbody side, ADE is in talks with an Indian narrowbody operator.
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