Embraer has announced it has signed agreements with two MRO (maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) providers in the Asia-Pacific region that will offer authorized service centers for the Embraer E-Jet and E2 series of regional jets.
The agreements with SIA Engineering (Philippines) Corporation (SIAEC) and Fokker Services Group (FSG) will see the two companies provide various engineering support services for Embraer E-Jets that are already operating with several carriers in the region, with more due to be delivered in the coming years.
The deal signed with SIAEC, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Engineering, will see the company’s facilities located at Clark Airport (CRK) in the Philippines become the first Embraer Authorized Service Center in the Asia-Pacific region to perform maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for Embraer’s E2 family of aircraft. SIAEC offers three hangars at Clark for MRO services and has previously been an authorized service center for Embraer’s first-generation E-Jets since 2017.
“SIAEC has been a key partner for Embraer in the region in the last years,” said Frank Stevens, Vice President of Global MRO Centers for Embraer Services & Support. “With this new agreement, SIAEC becomes even more strategic for the future of our company in the region, as the E2 fleet grows. We are very pleased with this step ahead on our long-term partnership.”
“We are delighted to extend our existing partnership with Embraer and play a key role in supporting their growth in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Jeremy Yew, SIAEC’s Senior Vice President of Base Maintenance. “We look forward to providing quality and efficient base maintenance services to the E2 fleet at our facility in Clark.”
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the region, Fokker Services Asia, a subsidiary of Fokker Services Group (FSG) has also been appointed as an Embraer Authorized Service Center. The company operates MRO services from five locations worldwide, including at Seletar International Airport (XSP) in Singapore.
The FSG facility in Singapore will focus primarily on work involving E190 aircraft. Announcing the deal, Embraer said in a statement that the agreement between the companies “marks a significant step forward in enhancing FSG’s capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, but it also offers Embraer the opportunity to expand and strengthen their support network in this rapidly growing market.”
“We are very happy to partner with Fokker Services Asia to offer a strategic additional location to our customers,” Frank Stevens commented. “This will potentially provide more capacity, and capability and help us to keep expanding Embraer’s Authorized Service Center footprint in Asia-Pacific”.
Meanwhile, Leon Kouters, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at FSG, said: “We are thrilled to have met all the stringent requirements set forth in the contract and to now be recognized as an Embraer Authorized Service Center”.
Thomas Kennedy, Managing Director of Fokker Services Asia, added: “This Embraer certification will further enhance Fokker Services Asia by establishing a comprehensive new line of work for Embraer aircraft maintenance in the region. The presence of the first Embraer aircraft from Alliance Airlines (Australia) already in our hangar is a testament to our readiness and commitment.”
Both agreements were finalized and presented at the Aviation Week MRO Asia Pacific 2024 event that was held in Singapore between September 24 and 26, 2024. According to Embraer, the growth of its authorized servicing network in Asia is an “important development of Embraer’s expansion strategy in the region.”
Regional growth
Embraer’s E-Jet fleets in the Asia-Pacific region comprise both the first-generation E-Jets as well as the next-generation series of E2 E-Jets that are already operated by airlines based in Singapore, Australia, India, Myanmar, Japan, and China.
Scoot, the budget arm of Singapore Airlines has a firm order of nine E190-E2 jets, two of which are already in service with the carrier. The carrier became the first E-Jet E2 operator in Southeast Asia when its first aircraft was delivered in April 2024 and has two more due for delivery by the end of 2024. In August 2024, Virgin Australia announced a firm order for eight E190-E2 with deliveries scheduled to start in the second half of 2025.
According to Boeing’s 2024 Commercial Market Outlook report on the Asia-Pacific region, passenger air traffic in Southeast Asia is forecast to grow by 7.2% annually until 2043, well above the 4.7% average annual growth rate globally. Much of this growth will be facilitated by narrowbody jets, says Boeing, which “will play an important role in further connecting the region’s island geography and serving travel demand across the Asia-Pacific region, particularly routes to China and Northeast Asia.”