VietNamNet Bridge - No investor has decided to pour money into setting up an aircraft maintenance center in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone.

 

Could Vietnam become a regional aircraft maintenance center?

In 2013, the Prime Minister gave the go-ahead to the Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee’s plan to set up an aircraft maintenance center in the locality. 

The Prime Minister then assigned the Ministry of Transport to work with local authorities and other relevant ministries on the scale of the center and the way of implementing the project.

Also in 2013, the US-based Parsons Brinckerhoff contacted the USTDA (US Trade and Development Agency) to call for capital to support the pre-feasibility study on the project on developing Chu Lai Airport and associated aircraft maintenance center.

Vietnam will have to struggle for years to build an aircraft manufacturing industry, but it could become a regional maintenance center in the near future, experts say.

Parsons Brinckerhoff is the company which won the bid to conduct research for the programming of the Chu Lai Airport development funded by USTDA. It signed a contract with the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) on the feasibility study aiming to develop Chu Lai into an international transit airport.

The US-based ADC&HAS Group once chose Da Nang and Chu Lai Airports for the program to develop two strategic airports to carry passengers and industrial goods.

According to Do Xuan Dien, head of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone Management Board, the aircraft maintenance center has been in the ‘investment promotion’ stage over the last three years, though the US Group has shown great interest for a long time and it can arrange capital for the consultancy work.

“We have provided documents to serve the assessment of the input factors to find out if the project is feasible. Meanwhile, the other works will be undertaken by the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV),” he said.

Meanwhile, head of CAAV Lai Xuan Thanh said no investor had contacted the agency about the aircraft maintenance center in Chu Lai. 

Thanh went on to say that when programming Chu Lai Airport development, Vietnam has reserved a large land fund for the aircraft maintenance work.

An analyst commented that the operation of the center will heavily depend on the aircraft manufacturers’ technology transfer. The maintenance work is especially difficult for the maintenance of engine which comprises millions of components and accessories. Therefore, it will be nearly impossible to build and run such a center if Vietnam does not join forces with foreign partners.

He said Vietnam has prepared well for the center in terms of policies on land and investment incentives. However, investors have hesitated to make investments partially because the number of engines that need maintenance is still too low.

Dat Viet