Asia’s ascent toward the top of the world’s aerospace market is being powered by a former colonial airbase in northern Singapore.
Once known for making mosquito coils and hair wigs, Singapore is now a hub for manufacturing the massive engines propelling Airbus Group SE’s superjumbo A380 and Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner. Those efforts are centred across the water from Malaysia at the Seletar Aerospace Park, a former mangrove swamp cleared for a British landing strip.
The area, about the size of New York’s Central Park, has spurred a US$6 billion ($8.4 billion) industry that is growing by at least 10% a year, according to government data. Pratt & Whitney is boosting spending on a local fan-blade factory by a third, and Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is diversifying its $700 million Seletar complex with repair and research facilities.
“Singapore is a hub,” Danny Di Perna, senior vice president of engineering and operations at Pratt & Whitney, said at this week’s Singapore Airshow, where companies are meeting to plan for the industry’s tilt toward Asia. “These are very critical components we are making here. It’s not just anybody that can make them.”
The push comes as surging travel in Asia fuels demand for US$2.2 trillion worth of airplanes during the next 20 years, according to estimates by Boeing. Singapore, already a regional powerhouse in aircraft maintenance, is home to Rolls-Royce’s most modern factory outside the U.K. and the only engine-fan facility for Pratt & Whitney outside the U.S.
Engine backlog
“We don’t have the base for making airplanes so the next most important thing is the engine and everything else in the plane,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Private Banking in Singapore.
Pratt & Whitney, the engine-making unit of United Technologies Corp., said Monday it planned to spend as much as another US$40 million after a US$110 million investment on the factory for fan blades and turbine disks. The company has a backlog of more than 7,000 engine orders, and production will ramp up during the next 18 months, Di Perna said.
A skilled, educated workforce and support from the national Economic Development Board prompted the engine maker to choose Singapore, Di Perna said. Singapore already is home to the world’s two biggest manufacturers of oil rigs, and the government has encouraged companies to move up the value chain in sectors such as pharmaceuticals.
“They have a very good strategy to create high-tech, advanced capability in the island,” Di Perna said.
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Once known for making mosquito coils and hair wigs, Singapore is now a hub for manufacturing the massive engines propelling Airbus Group SE’s superjumbo A380 and Boeing Co.’s Dreamliner. Those efforts are centred across the water from Malaysia at the Seletar Aerospace Park, a former mangrove swamp cleared for a British landing strip.
The area, about the size of New York’s Central Park, has spurred a US$6 billion ($8.4 billion) industry that is growing by at least 10% a year, according to government data. Pratt & Whitney is boosting spending on a local fan-blade factory by a third, and Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc is diversifying its $700 million Seletar complex with repair and research facilities.
“Singapore is a hub,” Danny Di Perna, senior vice president of engineering and operations at Pratt & Whitney, said at this week’s Singapore Airshow, where companies are meeting to plan for the industry’s tilt toward Asia. “These are very critical components we are making here. It’s not just anybody that can make them.”
The push comes as surging travel in Asia fuels demand for US$2.2 trillion worth of airplanes during the next 20 years, according to estimates by Boeing. Singapore, already a regional powerhouse in aircraft maintenance, is home to Rolls-Royce’s most modern factory outside the U.K. and the only engine-fan facility for Pratt & Whitney outside the U.S.
Engine backlog
“We don’t have the base for making airplanes so the next most important thing is the engine and everything else in the plane,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Private Banking in Singapore.
Pratt & Whitney, the engine-making unit of United Technologies Corp., said Monday it planned to spend as much as another US$40 million after a US$110 million investment on the factory for fan blades and turbine disks. The company has a backlog of more than 7,000 engine orders, and production will ramp up during the next 18 months, Di Perna said.
A skilled, educated workforce and support from the national Economic Development Board prompted the engine maker to choose Singapore, Di Perna said. Singapore already is home to the world’s two biggest manufacturers of oil rigs, and the government has encouraged companies to move up the value chain in sectors such as pharmaceuticals.
“They have a very good strategy to create high-tech, advanced capability in the island,” Di Perna said.
Click Here To Register For Free Trial Services OR Give A Missed Call : +6531581402 Follow Us On Twitter : www.twitter.com/epicresearchsg Like Us On Facebook : www.facebook.com/EpicResearchSingapore Need Any Assistance Feel Free To Mail Us at : info@epicresearch.sg
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