The Asia-Pacific aerospace maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, standing at a critical juncture where challenges and opportunities collide with striking force. A recent roundtable discussion hosted by The Business Times in Singapore on September 3, themed “Advancing MRO for a Resilient Aerospace Industry in Asia-Pacific,” brought together prominent leaders from the Economic Development Board (EDB), ST Engineering, and GE Aerospace to analyze the industry’s trajectory. Their insights revealed a powerful consensus: adaptability and collaboration are the dual forces fueling this sector’s expansion. With Singapore alone servicing one in every ten aircraft globally and holding nearly 19% of the worldwide engine MRO market share, the region’s prominence is undeniable. The strategies discussed at this event offer a vital roadmap for sustaining momentum in an industry defined by rapid evolution and complex demands.
Pillars of Progress in the MRO Sector
The roundtable highlighted adaptability and collaboration as the foundational elements driving the Asia-Pacific MRO sector forward in a landscape marked by constant change. Adaptability is about maintaining agility—being ready to shift direction during unexpected disruptions or to seize emerging market opportunities with speed and precision. Collaboration, on the other hand, centers on forging robust partnerships across a diverse ecosystem that includes private companies, government bodies, airlines, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). These alliances enable the sharing of critical resources, knowledge, and innovative ideas. Together, these two principles create a dynamic framework that equips the industry to address multifaceted challenges, from supply chain volatility to technological advancements, ensuring that growth remains not just possible, but sustainable over the long term.
Delving deeper into this framework, it becomes clear that adaptability and collaboration are not standalone tactics but deeply interconnected strategies essential for resilience. Adaptability allows the sector to respond to immediate crises while preparing for future shifts, ensuring that businesses are not merely surviving but thriving amid uncertainty. Collaboration amplifies this by fostering collective strength—when stakeholders unite, they can tackle larger issues like workforce shortages or regulatory complexities more effectively than any single entity could alone. The synergy between these approaches was a recurring theme at the roundtable, with industry leaders emphasizing that neither can fully succeed without the other. This dual focus is shaping the Asia-Pacific MRO sector into a global powerhouse, capable of navigating an ever-shifting aviation landscape.
Responding to Challenges with Strategic Flexibility
One of the most compelling demonstrations of adaptability in the Asia-Pacific MRO sector came during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when the aviation industry faced an abrupt and near-total standstill. Yip Hin Meng from ST Engineering shared how his company transformed this crisis into a springboard for growth by constructing new hangars in China and Singapore, expanding facilities in the United States, and venturing into the freight market through passenger-to-freighter conversions. This strategic foresight ensured readiness for the eventual recovery of air travel. Additionally, Zheng Jingxin of EDB pointed to Singapore’s innovative approach of temporarily redeploying aerospace workers to other sectors during the downturn, preserving critical skills for the industry’s resurgence. Government support through investments in robotics and additive manufacturing further solidified the region’s position for post-crisis growth.
Adaptability also plays a crucial role beyond crisis management, extending into workforce development and technological integration within the MRO sector. Iain Rodger of GE Aerospace underscored the necessity of upskilling employees to keep pace with cutting-edge advancements, while advocating for the pragmatic abandonment of technologies that fail to deliver value to clients. Zheng highlighted the importance of supply chain resilience through diversification and digitization, bolstered by Singapore’s extensive network of trade agreements. Yip added that the shift from traditional just-in-time inventory practices to predictive models post-COVID reflects a forward-thinking approach, achieved through closer coordination with OEMs to anticipate regional workload trends. These varied applications of adaptability demonstrate its pervasive importance across operational, human, and strategic dimensions of the industry, ensuring that the sector remains agile in the face of diverse challenges.
Building Strength Through Ecosystem Partnerships
Collaboration emerged as a vital catalyst for scaling success in the Asia-Pacific MRO sector, with roundtable participants emphasizing the power of partnerships to address complex issues and drive innovation. Yip from ST Engineering outlined a multi-layered approach to collaboration, detailing alliances with sovereign wealth funds for financial backing, government agencies for infrastructure and airport development, OEMs through joint ventures or licensing deals, and airlines to boost operational efficiency. This broad spectrum of partnerships ensures access to essential capital, information, and capacity, creating a robust foundation for growth. Rodger from GE Aerospace reinforced that as demand and order volumes continue to climb, deeper connections across the ecosystem will be critical for managing increased workloads with precision and effectiveness.
Further exploring the scope of collaboration, Zheng from EDB advocated for public-private partnerships and connections between multinational corporations and smaller enterprises, supported by initiatives like the Partnerships for Capability Transformation Scheme. He also proposed looking beyond traditional boundaries, suggesting that aerospace firms could gain valuable insights from industries such as semiconductors or healthcare in areas like process optimization. On the manpower front, all panelists agreed that working with unions and educational institutions is indispensable for equipping workers with the skills needed to adapt to technological shifts. This collective responsibility toward human capital development, combined with cross-industry learning and ecosystem-wide alliances, positions collaboration as a cornerstone of resilience and innovation, ensuring that the MRO sector in Asia-Pacific can meet both current demands and future aspirations.
Charting the Path Ahead for Sustained Growth
Reflecting on the insights shared during the roundtable, it’s evident that the Asia-Pacific MRO sector navigated past turbulence with remarkable agility, thanks to the strategic interplay of adaptability and collaboration. Industry leaders demonstrated how pivoting during crises, such as the pandemic, and investing in future-ready infrastructure laid the groundwork for recovery and expansion. Partnerships across diverse stakeholders proved instrumental in pooling resources and fostering innovation at every turn. As the sector moves forward, the focus should shift to deepening these collaborative networks, prioritizing cross-industry learning, and scaling workforce training programs to meet evolving technological needs. Embracing predictive supply chain models and continuing to leverage government support will also be key steps in maintaining momentum. These actionable strategies, rooted in the lessons of recent years, offer a clear path to ensuring that the region remains a global leader in aerospace MRO for the long haul.
