MAS Aerospace Engineering (MAE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines and Air Mauritius sealed a one year maintenance agreement for 8 aircraft comprising six A340-200s and two A330-200s.

The agreement covers heavy maintenance checks involving overhaul works and the repainting of the aircraft to Air Mauritius’ new livery. The services will be conducted at the one-stop MAE facility in Subang which has the capacity of servicing more than 200 planes annually.

Malaysia Airlines Senior General Manager, Engineering and Maintenance, Mr. Mohd Roslan Ismail sealed the agreement with Air Mauritius Executive Vice President, Technical Services, Mr Jacques Gentil.

Roslan said, “We are delighted with the confidence shown by Air Mauritius who awarded the contract to us. This marks a breakthrough for us into the African aviation market especially in capturing businesses from southern Africa.

“Many of the small and medium size airlines operate Airbus aircraft and we have built our capabilities to include the A340s. In addition, it is more cost effective for them to send the aircraft to Malaysia for maintenance due to our proximity to southern Africa, and lower manpower cost compared to Europe.”

There are currently 660 aircraft in the Continent. Boeing forecasts that Africa will need 710 new jets worth USD80 billion between 2010 and 2029. At the same time, Embraer’s Outlook on Africa forecasts that Africa will need to add 770 aircraft by 2029.

This includes 220 new jets in the 30 to 120-seat segment, 420 narrow-bodies and wide-bodies as well as 130 turboprops.

Roslan added, “We currently employ more than 800 aircraft engineers and 3,000 technicians. As part of our expansion plans over the next few years, we plan to have an additional 1,000 engineers and 2,500 technicians.”

Executive Vice President of Air Mauritius Technical Services, Mr Jacques Gentil said, “We are very confident of MAE’s expertise, experience and high quality services. We believe in their capabilities and look forward to working with them for our aircraft maintenance requirements”.

MAE is an award winning MRO provider with over 100 customers. It is acknowledged as the 2009 best MRO Centre in Asia Pacific by Frost & Sullivan, Singapore. It was also awarded the 2009 Best Asia-Pacific Airline MRO Operation Award by Aviation Week and Overhaul & Maintenance, two of the industry's leading magazines.