Sapura Technics, a new narrowbody aircraft MRO in Southeast Asia, received its Malaysian Part 145 maintenance certification on Feb. 5. This follows a provisional aircraft maintenance organization approval granted in late November, less than one year after the MRO was formed in December 2018. 

Sapura, a joint venture between Mercu Sapura and Dilog Training & Services, is based at Senai International Airport in Johor, which is just 30 km northwest of Singapore. This allows it quick access to Singapore’s existing MRO ecosystem.

The MRO plans to provide line and base maintenance for Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft, with composite, sheet metal, non-destructive testing, paint and battery charging workshops to support it.

Sapura Technics inducted its first Boeing 737-800 aircraft, from Malaysian charter airline M Jets International, for a minor check.

To help it gain customers outside of Malaysia, Sapura Technics started applying for maintenance certification from the Vietnam civil aviation authority. It hopes to receive that certification within three months so it can start working on Vietnamese registered aircraft. It also plans to pursue EASA, FAA, CAA Thailand and DGCA Indonesia certifications within the next month.

It is in the process of implementing the Swiss-AS AMOS MRO software and hopes to go live with the system in the second quarter.

The independent MRO operates from two single-bay hangars that it took over from sister company Sapura Aerpo, which provides aircraft management services to private aircraft operators. Each hangar can accommodate one narrowbody commercial aircraft, but as the business grows, it plans “to expand up to a 10-bay hangar within the next five years,” says Syahril Shariff, head of business development.

Aviation Week Network’s Fleet & MRO Forecast pegs the Malaysian MRO demand to be $857 million in 2020, with heavy maintenance comprising 47% of that.