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15 years of MTU Maintenance Zhuhai: Success story in China
Munich, April 6, 2016 – MTU Maintenance Zhuhai is a 50/50 joint venture between Germany’s leading engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Air Holding Company. A jewel among the shops operated by MTU Maintenance, the company was founded on April 6, 2001, obtained regulatory approval from the authorities a year later and ever since it opened shop has seen consistent expansion of its business. Today, MTU Maintenance Zhuhai celebrated its 15th anniversary with a small ceremony attended by the staff.
“We’ve achieved a great deal so far and I’d like to thank everyone for their contribution,” explained Frank Bodenhage, President and CEO of MTU Maintenance Zhuhai. “Today, MTU Maintenance Zhuhai is the No. 1 engine maintenance provider in China.” The intentions are clear: “Having become China’s largest engine MRO shop, we're now poised to become the leading provider in Asia.” The prospects are looking good, given that the company’s revenues have doubled in the last five years alone. Long-term plans are to add further engine types to its portfolio and continue expanding its range of services.
MTU Maintenance Zhuhai boasts some impressive figures: The company, which is located in the Pearl River Delta region of southern China, and specializes in V2500-A5 and CFM56-3, -5B and -7B MRO services, has completed over 1,900 engine shop visits to date. “In this region, we are the undisputed market leader as a maintenance provider for both of these engine families. Notably for the CFM56, demand for maintenance services is growing rapidly,” says Bodenhage. Just recently, the 1,000th CFM56 arrived at the shop in Zhuhai.
In order to meet the growing expectations of the Asian aviation market in particular –being the largest in the world – MTU Maintenance Zhuhai extended its facility by 5,900 square meters in late 2012, bringing its total area to almost 40,000 square meters. As a result, the shop’s overall capacity was boosted by 50 percent from 200 to 300 shop visits per year.
MTU's Chinese subsidiary has been awarded a number of national and international prizes, which are testimony to its excellent reputation. It twice won Guangdong's High Technology Company honors, received the renowned Aviation Week Group's Asia Pacific Independent MRO Operation Award, held the title of Best Work Safety Company several times over, and was named an Excellence Enterprise with Foreign Investment.
The company is located in Zhuhai's free trade zone and benefits from its proximity to Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Macao. Service teams can be dispatched to the customers in the region in no time. The Zhuhai shop has an advanced machinery and applies the high-tech repair processes for which MTU Maintenance, one of the largest providers of commercial engine maintenance services worldwide, has made a name for itself globally. Today MTU Maintenance Zhuhai serves customers from China, Asia and around the world. Last year, about one third of the engines sent in for a shop visit came from airlines based outside of China. The company employs a workforce of over 720 employees.
About MTU Aero Engines
MTU Aero Engines AG is Germany's leading engine manufacturer. The company is a technological leader in low-pressure turbines, high-pressure compressors, turbine center frames as well as manufacturing processes and repair techniques. In the commercial OEM business, the company plays a key role in the development, manufacturing and marketing of high-tech components together with international partners. Some 30 percent of today’s active aircraft in service worldwide have MTU components on board. In the commercial maintenance sector the company ranks among the top 5 service providers for commercial aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines. The activities are combined under the roof of MTU Maintenance. In the military arena, MTU Aero Engines is Germany's industrial lead company for practically all engines operated by the country's military. MTU operates a network of locations around the globe; Munich is home to its corporate headquarters. In fiscal 2015, the company had a workforce of some 9,000 employees and posted consolidated sales of approximately 4.4 billion euros.