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Etihad Engineering is growing its Airbus A380 capacity by purchasing and building new hangars.
At Aviation Week’s MRO Middle East 2025, aftermarket companies in the region discussed their long-term growth ambitions and stressed the need for further investment in capacity to ramp-up and meet demand.
The Middle East, long characterized by ambitious growth plans and substantial investment in aviation infrastructure, finds itself at an inflection point in 2025. Demand continues to grow across most aftermarket services, yet capacity constraints are starting to bite. This is particularly acute in base maintenance, where several MROs report high demand and slots booked out into 2026. As a result, these companies are looking to expand their existing lines.
Chief among them is Etihad Engineering, which is striving to double revenues to $540 million by 2030 from around $270 million at the end of 2023. CEO Daniel Hoffmann said Etihad Airways, from which the MRO was spun off, accounts for around 30% of its overall work, the remainder coming from third parties.
“If we want to support Etihad with the growth which we have to do, and we don’t want to dilute our third-party business, we’ll have to grow for the third-party market in the same way as we do for Etihad work,” he said.
Etihad Airways’ planned fleet expansion is also a factor. The airline plans to add 80 aircraft by 2032, nearly doubling its current fleet size of around 100. It will also look to nearly double labor hours to around three million over the next five years from 1.78 million at the end of 2024.
Etihad Engineering is planning to expand its hangar footprint at its Abu Dhabi base over the next few years. This process started last year, when the company purchased an Airbus A380-capable hangar from state fund Mubadala, which it has since leased to Etihad Airways for line maintenance. The hangar, which can accommodate one widebody or several narrowbodies, will be incorporated into the MRO provider’s capacity in 2027.
Etihad Engineering expects to complete its new Hangar 7 in Abu Dhabi soon and have it operational by May. This will house Boeing 777-300ER passenger-to-freighter conversions in partnership with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) through an agreement signed in 2021.
Another hangar, 6D, will add to its A380 capacity by July, with volume for one widebody or multiple narrowbodies. Tentative plans are in the design stage for a further hangar so the MRO can simultaneously accommodate up to five widebodies by 2028. “Within the widebody gaps, we would be able to squeeze in another 3-4 narrowbodies as well,” Hoffmann says of the 6D hangar addition. Construction is expected to begin in mid-2026.
Another established regional player, Jordan’s Joramco, is pressing ahead with major expansion plans, investing around $100 million in the construction of three hangars. The first, Hangar 7, can accommodate five lines of narrowbody maintenance or a combination of narrowbody and widebody aircraft as large as the A380. As of late March, the facility was expected to open at the end of the first quarter, which Joramco says will give it 22 lines of parallel maintenance in Amman. The next hangar—the company’s eighth in the Jordanian capital—is scheduled for completion in 2026, while Hangar 9, scheduled to open in 2028, will be a paint hangar that can house either one widebody and one narrowbody or two narrowbodies.
Given the MRO capacity challenges around the world, the 2026 and 2028 time frames “could easily accelerate into a back-to-back contract” for the buildings, Joramco CEO Fraser Currie told Aviation Week at MRO Middle East.
Widebody maintenance is proving resilient in the region. “We’re seeing a huge demand for widebodies—there are just no widebody slots out there,” Currie said, adding that Joramco is booked for two years, seeing mostly Boeing 777s and 787s, although “the older [Airbus] A340s are still hanging in there.” Currie noted that the provider also is seeing older narrowbodies in its shops—aircraft “we weren’t expecting to see again” before OEM delivery delays forced airlines to extend their service lives, driving cabin refurbishments.
Responding to the Middle East’s robust widebody demand, Tim Aerospace is expected to open a new widebody MRO hangar later this year at the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub in Dubai South. These expansions, while catering to strong demand volumes, look set to continue amid a disrupted supply chain and are expected to do so for several years yet.
“I think anyone who says next year will be better hasn’t got their head screwed on,” Flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway said at MRO Middle East. “We’re suffering delays, albeit less so on the airframe side and more on the engines, which is problematic for all the reasons everyone talks about, and [on] things that go into the aircraft, such as seats and galleys.”
However, Greenway noted that the Saudi low-cost carrier has seen supply chain challenges decrease for buyer-furnished equipment. “We are impacted a bit less than other airlines because a lot of our stuff isn’t customized and is instead off-the-shelf,” he explained.
Engine MRO Investments
The Middle East is not short of airframe maintenance providers, and such previously underserved market segments as component repair have seen growing activity in joint ventures and partnerships. And example is Liebherr’s agreement with Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub to establish a new service center at Dubai South.
Yet there remains room for further developments in the region’s engine aftermarket. Established providers like Abu Dhabi-based Sanad are adding capabilities.
The company recently became the latest MRO provider to join the aftermarket network for Pratt & Whitney’s PW1000G geared turbofan family after signing a 30-year agreement with the OEM to provide full MRO and testing services. Sanad will custom-build a facility in Al Ain for PW1100G-JM, PW-1500G and PW1900G engines, which power Airbus A320neo, A220 and Embraer E-Jet E2 aircraft, respectively. Once open as planned by the third quarter of 2028, Sanad will be able to handle up to 350 engine shop visits annually.
Meanwhile, IAI gained approval last year for CFM International Leap 1A and Leap 1B engines, and expects to induct 80-100 annually in 2025-26. After the MRO finishes test-cell correlation and an additional facility for engine maintenance, set to be built by 2027, IAI plans to increase inductions to 250 per year.
At the end of 2024, Saudia Technic signed terms to explore a GE Aerospace GEnx engine joint venture with AFI KLM E&M. Under the agreement, AFI KLM E&M will receive at least 50% of MRO work related to Saudia’s GE Aerospace GE90 engines, which power its Boeing 777 aircraft. The airline has 39 of the widebodies in operation, most of them the -300ER variant. Also included in the MRO pipeline are module assembly and disassembly of the engines, which will undergo localization and eventually be carried out in Saudi Arabia.
On the OEM side, GE Aerospace is investing in its two Middle East shops as part of a wider strategy spanning several shops worldwide.
The engine-maker will invest $10 million over two years at On Wing Support facilities in Dubai and Doha to increase engine service capacity and capabilities in the region. Changes mostly focus on supporting Leap 1A and 1B engines, 750 of which operate with more than 20 airlines in the Middle East, but the two shops also are ramping up to support the GE9X engine for the Boeing 777X. The region is the biggest market for this aircraft to date.
The investment includes new tooling and equipment, which will enable additional Leap quick-turn maintenance and new workscopes, including durability improvements, module disassembly and hot-section MRO. GE is investing in training to support those new capabilities and a planned 30% increase in staffing in the region.
New entrants are poised to enter the Middle East’s commercial engine aftermarket over the next few years.
IER MRO Industries, the United Arab Emirates maintenance business of industrial gas turbine specialist International Energy Resources, is looking to break ground in Dubai this summer on a commercial engine overhaul and testing facility focused on narrowbody engine maintenance.
Following IER MRO Industries’ announcement of the planned location at Dubai South last year, CEO and Chairman Larry Howie said the preliminary designs for the planned 1.3-million-ft.2 facility have been completed and approved. The company has been allocated land within an economic free zone that Emirates had previously occupied for the project.
“It’s a three-year program, and we hope to have the test facility ready by the end of 2027, with the MRO to follow that in the first quarter of 2028,” Howie said.
He then revealed that the planned facility will focus initially on CFM International CFM56-7Bs, for which IER MRO Industries already holds a license, and it plans to add Leap 1A, 1B and International Aero Engines V2500 repair capability.
The engine center, set to be one of the biggest in the region, will include a test cell that should be operational in three years, says Tahnoon Saif, CEO of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub and Dubai South. This will be the first test cell in the region developed by a third party—most are built by airlines and government investments, he adds.
Dubai South
In 2027, Emirates and FlyDubai expect to open new MRO facilities at Dubai World Central Airport in Dubai South. “This creates opportunities for aero-logistics and delivering services” those carriers do not offer, Saif says.
Dubai South, one of the largest aerospace projects in the world, is running out of land. “By 2032, we will probably reach maximum capacity,” he notes.
—With Lee Ann Shay in Washington
Main Takeaways From MRO Middle East 2025
- Shortage of available widebody maintenance slots.
- Shifting strategies as some regional operators grow more open to parts manufacturer approval parts.
- Supply chain headaches in the region, expected for another 3-5 years.
- Older aircraft remaining in service longer drive further cabin refurbishments and connectivity options, with some earmarked for Starlink installations.
- Stakeholders predict significant adoption of artificial intelligence in 3-5 years.
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