Airbus A380-800 Thai AW (THA) F-WWSE - MSN 122 - Will be
HS-TUD - Named Phayuha Khiri. Photo prise à l'aéroport de Toulouse-Blagnac
(LFBO) en France. Picture take at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (LFBO) in France. -
wikimedia.org
Reuters Staff
BANGKOK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - National carrier Thai Airways
International and Airbus plan to jointly open an aircraft maintenance and
repair operations (MRO) hub in Thailand, a Thai Airways official said on
Friday.
The hub will cost about 11 billion baht ($338 million),
of which about 7 billion baht will come from the Thai navy’s budget, while a
Thai Airways-Airbus joint venture will invest the rest, Thai Airways Management
and Flying Officer Ronnachai Wongchaoum told reporters in Bangkok.
The aviation maintenance hub will be set up at Thailand’s
U-Tapao Airport, a joint civil-military airport near the country’s eastern
seaboard.
The proposed project will add to the growing aviation
maintenance sector spread across Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, potentially
posing a threat to Singapore, the region’s dominant hub for aircraft
maintenance and repair.
Thai Airways will start maintaining the Airbus A380 with
the support of Airbus teams in U-Tapao, which is located 150 kilometers (90
miles) east of Bangkok, the airline said in a statement on Friday.
The new facility will provide services including heavy
maintenance, line maintenance and aircraft painting services, the carrier
added.
“Early next decade, new hangar facilities will be built,
while U-Tapao will become a growing airport with eventually two runways,” it
said.
“The Management of both companies have a joint vision for
the new MRO campus to be the most modern aircraft maintenance facility equipped
with the most modern aircraft technology,” the Thai company said.
For years, successive Thai governments have talked about
developing U-Tapao airport, currently used as a naval airbase, into an
international commercial airport to support growing foreign tourist arrivals.
($1 = 32.5400 baht) (Reporting by Pracha Hariraksapitak; Writing by Amy Sawitta
Lefevre; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
Original post: reuters.com
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