Mubadala in talks to grow airline repair base

Abu Dhabi investment company Mubadala revealed on Wednesday that it is bidding to sign more airlines up to its aircraft maintenance operations in the UAE.

The company announced earlier in the day that it has joined forces with GE Aviation to establish a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in the emirates.

This tie up sees GE Aviation and its affiliates providing technical support and services to Mubadala’s subsidiaries, aircraft maintenance provider Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) and SR Technics.

When speaking to Arabian Business on the sidelines of the announcement, Mubadala associate director for business development, Homaid Al Shemmari, said the partnership would help secure more airlines seeking MRO services.

He said: “It [the GE partnership] will expand our customer base. We are providing services for between 70 and 80 airlines through ADAT and SRT and will hopefully be able to increase that.

“We are in talks [with other airlines] and we are hoping to announce something in the first quarter of 2010. We go after all the markets, especially the aircraft that fly to Abu Dhabi.”

Al Shemmari declined to comment on which airlines the Mubadala-GE Aviation joint venture is in talks with.

Among its customers, ADAT works with French aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which receives maintenance services for all of its airframes. Al Shemmari said the company will soon be capable of servicing all Airbus aircraft, including the super-jumbo A380.

ADAT already handles components for the A330, which is causing major concerns for airlines that fly the aircraft following the recent Air France tragedy. The plane, carrying 228 people from Brazil to France, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean due to an unconfirmed technical fault.

When asked whether airlines operating the A330 had registered concerns with ADAT, Al Shemmari said: “Airlines are mature about these kinds of incidents and we will have to wait for the final results of the investigation.

“We can’t proceed to start assuming things. From our perspective we will take the maintenance regulations produced and it’s always about safety in our industry.”

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