China's largest MRO organisation Ameco Beijing has won a milestone contract with legacy Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways for the overhaul and exchange services for its Airbus A320 and A321 landing gears.

This deal marks the first contract for Ameco Beijing's A320/A321 landing gear services outside mainland China and will run from 2007 until 2015. Elvis Ho, Cathay Pacific's general manager engineering commercial, says: "This marks the first agreement between Cathay Pacific and Ameco Beijing, and with its links to Lufthansa Technik we can be assured of the quality German engineering that our landing gear will receive."

The first exchange A320 landing gear will be overhauled and then delivered to Cathay Pacific in mid-September, with the first Cathay Pacific gear expected to arrive at Ameco Beijing's facility by the end of September.

The joint venture between Air China and Lufthansa is growing at a remarkable rate across the region. It is preparing to offer full services for the new A380 from its main facility at Beijing Capital International Airport next year.

Speaking at Asian Aerospace, Zheng Yan, executive director of operations, says the new A380 hangar will be completed at the beginning of 2008, and put into service before the 2008 Olympic Games. It has the capacity for two Airbus A380s, or two Boeing 747-400s and two 777-300ERs.

Alongside with the construction of A380 hangar, Ameco Beijing is also building a hangar for heavy maintenance of aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 747, which will enable painting to be done without having to move the aircraft. After building up these two new hangars, Ameco Beijing will simultaneously provide 15 widebody and 11 narrowbody bays for aircraft maintenance and overhaul.

Photograph by Dan Chunxin - CARNOC.com.