SINGAPORE—Embraer is planning to increase the value of spares and components in its Singapore distribution center to support its growing fleet in the Asia-Pacific region.
Currently, the Brazilian company has around $100 million worth of components stored in Singapore but this is deemed insufficient now that more airlines will be adding E-Jets to their fleets.
On top of Scoot, which ordered nine Embraer 190-E2s, Australia-based Alliance Airlines is bringing in 30 prior-generation Embraer 190s from AerCap and Virgin Australia placed an order for eight E190-E2s in August. Vietjet Air is also also reported to be considering an E2 order.
“With the Virgin aircraft coming in next year, we will probably increase [the spares pool] gradually as more aircraft enter into the into the system itself,” says Frank Stevens, Embraer's VP of global MRO centers.
Stevens adds that the spares center will remain in Singapore and broaden its scope to support more operators.
While component servicing continues to be managed by Embraer, Stevens says discussions are ongoing with third-party providers. Fokker Services and SIA Engineering Philippines have signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Embraer to explore ways to support airline clients on parts without sending them back to the Americas.
Stevens also believes there will be a need to set up a specific MRO ecosystem in China should there be a large aircraft order in the country.
“China and APAC region have to be dealt with separately. In the event that our fleet were to grow in China, we would have to make decisions on how to keep those components or those aircraft operational within the region, specifically because of the regulations that are required for Chinese aviation,” he says, adding that a dedicated spares distribution center for China would be needed. There is already an Embraer airframe maintenance capability in China, provided by STAECO.
Stevens would like to see greater mobility for aircraft technicians in Asia-Pacific as they typically remain within their respective markets, such as Australia or China.
“In the region,there's a lot of very talented people, but they tend to stay in their geographic areas. The Philippines is a good example where they export a lot of people, but now people are starting to come back into the Philippines. I think it's less of a need for the [scale of labour] but more of a need for technologically advanced people,” he says.
