On April 24, Singapore Technologies Aerospace Ltd (ST Aerospace) announced the expansion of its maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities in Singapore with the official opening of a new hangar and groundbreaking for another at its wholly-owned subsidiary's, ST Aerospace Engineering Pte Ltd (STA Engrg), Seletar facility. ST Aerospace is the aerospace arm of Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering).

This investment is not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current financial year.

Constructed within a local record setting pace of eight months, the first hangar is now operationally ready. This new hangar is equipped to perform heavy maintenance and modification for a range of aircraft types including general aviation, helicopters and commercial narrow-body aircraft up to a Boeing 757 aircraft.

It was double celebration for ST Aerospace. While it celebrated the opening of one new singlebay hangar, it was also the groundbreaking for a second hangar. The second hangar is expected to be operational by early 2008. When completed, this additional two-bay hangar could simultaneously accommodate up to two narrow-body aircraft.

Officiating at the ceremonies was Mr Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry.

"We are pleased to see ST Aerospace grow from a military depot maintenance facility some three decades ago to become the world's largest third-party MRO provider today. The consistent growth of ST Aerospace's operations is a clear testament of Singapore being an ideal location for business and investment. The opening of Hangar 600 and the groundbreaking of Hangar 700 also underscores the company's commitment to Singapore as Asia's leading aviation hub," Mr Lim Hng Kiang said.

"The hangar expansion at Seletar is a part of ST Aerospace's global growth plans, and is in response to our customers' increased demand for MRO services. We are committed to Singapore's development plans for the Seletar Aerospace Park, and we will continue to develop our capabilities and capacities to provide integrated airframe, component, engines and engineering MRO services for our global customer base," Mr Tay Kok Khiang, President, ST Aerospace, said.

Operating from Paya Lebar, Changi and Seletar airports in Singapore, ST Aerospace has over the last three years built additional hangars in all three locations. It has also been steadily expanding its global capacity. In 2004, it added three hangars for its facilities in the US and Singapore to serve increasing customers. It also established its first China MRO joint venture in Shanghai. In 2005, it unveiled a two-bay narrow-body hangar in Singapore. In 2006, it expanded its operations with a single wide-body hangar in Singapore and opened a 12-bay MRO facility in Panama.

With this official opening of the single-bay hangar, ST Aerospace now has eight wide-body and 11 narrow-body bays in Singapore, and offers worldwide operations with a total capacity of 25 wide-body and 42 narrow-body bays in key aviation hubs. The increased capacity reinforces ST Aerospace's position as the largest airframe MRO provider in the world, with comprehensive service offerings.

Photograph: Mr Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry (left), and Mr Tay Kok Khiang, President, ST Aerospace (right), celebrating the official opening of Hangar 600 at Seletar, ST Aerospace's newest narrow-body hangar.