The government plans to turn Malaysia into a regional hub for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), said Najib Tun Razak, Bernama reported. The deputy prime minister said this had been outlined by the Malaysian Aerospace Council chaired by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. "Suitable areas for MRO activities have been identified. They would not only involve Malaysia Airlines (MAS) but also other parties like Eurocopter which operates a similar facility for helicopters here (Subang)," he told reporters after opening the MAS Engineering Training Centre (METC) in Subang near here Friday. Najib said the move to establish the METC and related training programmes for Felda youths were among the strategies to attain the government's objective. The METC, he said, had obtained international certification, with 30 per cent of its business coming from international airline operators. He said Malaysia was ranked fifth in Asia and tenth in the world in terms of MRO capability. Najib said besides civilian aircraft, Malaysia was also able to perform MRO work on foreign military planes through Airod Sdn Bhd. "So our hub will be unique because it'll be able to handle civilian and military planes as well as helicopters," he said.
