Lufthansa Technik AG is filling important leadership positions to support its continued expansion in Asia Pacific (APAC).

Following the successful restructuring of the local sales organization, the Aircraft Overhaul and Component Services divisions will now also be managed directly from the region. With Elmar Lutter, one of the company's most experienced top managers is taking over the Aircraft Overhaul division in Asia Pacific. He will assume his new position on 1 June and work from Manila in the Philippines. During the course of his international career, Lutter has headed production departments within Aircraft Overhaul in Hamburg and Manila and worked as the CEO of Lufthansa Technik Budapest. Most recently, he was responsible for establishing and managing Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico.

Burkhard Pfefferle-Tolkiehn, who will head Asia Pacific's Components division as of April 1, has chosen Hong Kong as his base. He has spent many years working in leadership positions within the Component Services division, most recently as Vice President in Hamburg, where he was responsible for the global material supply to more than 800 Lufthansa Technik customers.

With Gerald Steinhoff, Lufthansa Technik's sales organization relocated top management functions to the region as early as 2014.

Working from Singapore, Steinhoff and his team established new regional sales structures for Lufthansa Technik that have already brought impressive successes, resulting in annual revenue growth of over 20 percent.

These most recent staffing decisions are the next step in Lufthansa Technik's growth program in the Asia Pacific region. The company is following up its ongoing efforts of building and expanding production sites by establishing a local leadership structure directly in the region - in close proximity to the customer.

The Asia Pacific region is particularly important for the company, and has boasted growth rates in the double digits for years now. Extensive contracts for component supplies and landing gear overhauls were recently concluded with Go Air and Air India, for example. Initial successes have also been achieved with the new aircraft types - for example, with China Airlines as the first A350 customer for component supply in APAC. Many customers in the region have been working with Lufthansa Technik for years. The new appointments will now bring these cooperations to a new, local level.

The government will prioritize the development of U-Tapao airport as the cornerstone of the Eastern Economic Corridor, the new development zone east of Bangkok that will showcase Thailand’s advancing digital economy, along with a high-speed railway linking the area to Bangkok, the deputy prime minister in charge of the economy said last week.

The two projects are among five major infrastructure developments planned by the government for the three-province zone that policymakers consider essential for the future of the nation in terms of its economy, competitiveness and development. Aside from serving as a home to advanced industries, the Eastern Economic Corridor, or EEC, will also contain model, green communities for a better and more sustainable standard of living.

Aerospace and aviation are among the advanced industries that will be headquartered in the EEC. Therefore, the development of U-Tapao, an airport once used by the United States military, has been prioritized, both for its role in spurring the growth of aerospace and aviation in Thailand and for the major part it will play in linking the corridor with global markets through transport and logistics.

THAI Airways International has announced its intention to build the region’s finest aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at U-Tapao, and last week European aircraft maker Airbus signed an agreement to invest in the new facility.

“The government will accelerate the joint aircraft-repair center between Thai Airways International and Airbus and arrange regulations for public-private partnerships to shorten the EEC implementation period to three months,” said Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who oversees the economic ministries.

Thai Airways International (THAI) and Airbus this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly “evaluate” development of a new MRO facility at Thailand’s U-Tapao International Airport, south of Bangkok. The MoU was formalised on Wednesday by Thailand’s deputy Prime Minister, Somkid Jatusripitak, Airbus Commercial Aircraft president, Fabrice Brégier, and THAI acting president, Usanee Sangsingkeo.

The proposed MRO hub will offer line and heavy maintenance services and utilize digital technology analysis of aircraft maintenance data. In addition it will offer clients UAV inspection of airframes, a repair centre for composite structures and a maintenance training centre for Thai and regional technical staff.

“This is a major milestone in our long and mutually beneficial relationship with THAI that dates all the way back to our earliest days at Airbus when THAI became one of our first customers in the 1970s,” Brégier said. “With the fleet in the region set to almost triple to over 15,000 aircraft over the next 20 years, this project represents a sound opportunity for Thailand to develop its footprint in the aerospace sector.

“We predict fleets operated by Asia-Pacific carriers will more than double in size in the next 20 years, from around 6,000 to more than 15,000 aircraft. All these aircraft will need to be serviced on a regular basis, representing a huge business proposition. In fact, we estimate the value of the MRO sector in this region alone will stand at around US$640 billion over the next decades

“THAI has been studying the development of a new MRO business with several potential partners and is pleased to reach this initial agreement with Airbus,” interim THAI president, Sangsingkeo said. The Thai government has prioritised aerospace and MRO sector as key industries in its ‘Thailand 4.0’ economic reform and innovation drive.