The Chinese domestic airline market has recovered more quickly from the virus crisis than markets elsewhere, but Chinese MRO is still heavily influenced by global trends. Two of the most important being a lot of aircraft will become surplus in the next three years and thus candidates for disassembly, and many more passenger aircraft will be candidates for at least temporary cargo duty.

HAECO Xiamen, a member of the HAECO Group, is responding to both these market shifts.

The MRO recently announced that its Airbus A320 part-out capability has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. HAECO Xiamen is the only MRO in Eastern China to have obtained this approval, and it has undertaken its first A320 part-out project for Yan Wu Group—disassembling four aircraft for the Chinese mainland operator.

The MRO is also providing two kinds of temporary cargo carriage solutions for Cathay Pacific Airways.

First, HAECO Xiamen is providing Cathay with a design engineering and certification solution that allows the airline to uses sections of its Boeing 777s to carry cargo. The modification is covered by a supplemental type certificate approved by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department.

This modification involves removing economy and premium economy seats to install cargo bags, which are secured with cargo nets and straps, and other associated safety equipment. The modification was designed to conform to Boeing’s Multi Operator Message. The modification kit is directly sourced and fabricated onsite by HAECO Xiamen.

In addition, HAECO Xiamen has obtained an approval for a minor change on Cathay’s Airbus A330s. This modification kit, again fabricated by HAECO Xiamen, includes cargo bags secured onto the existing seats. It has been reclassified by regulators as a minor change on a time-limited basis.

Filling seats with bundles, not bottoms, has been an increasingly popular option with financially stressed passenger airlines. Other companies that offer this temporary fix include Australia’s John’s Aircraft & Upholstery Service, a partnership of J&C Aero and Colibri Aero, whose seat bags have been approved by EASA, and Trip & Co., another EASA-approved vendor.