Quickstep, a leading aerospace composite business in Australia, has partnered with ST Engineering’s Commercial Aerospace business to deliver nacelle maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) across the complete range of Boeing and Airbus commercial aircraft in the Australasian market.
The comprehensive collaboration agreement, announced at the MRO Asia Pacific exhibition in Singapore yesterday, will provide a joint nacelle services support concept with local market presence and global network access.
The agreement will also require Quickstep to maintain a local presence for ST Engineering on a range of licensed nacelle products.
Meanwhile, ST Engineering will enhance local capability, including replacement assets located in Australia.
The agreement also includes the opportunity to develop additional capability in the region’s nacelle and aerospace component support, along with onshore and regional capacity for new-generation aircraft.
Mark Burgess, CEO of Quickstep, said the partnership seeks to deliver 65 per cent of nacelle maintenance and repair capability onshore, against the current level estimated at less than 10 per cent.
It also intends to reverse a 30-year trend of offshoring and capitalise on the attractive combination of Quickstep’s local capability and ST Engineering’s global expertise and experience in nacelle maintenance.
“For airline customers, this will offer faster turn times, significantly lower transportation and inventory costs as well as an approximately 60% reduction in carbon emissions associated with offshore component repair,” Burgess said.
“For Quickstep this agreement will allow us to bid, on a competitive basis, into approximately 50% of the regional market (by volume) that was previously difficult to access, with a positive impact on our growth projections for the Aftermarket line of business,” the Quickstep CEO added.
ST Engineering is a global technology, defence, and engineering group that touts a diverse portfolio of businesses across the aerospace, smart city, defence, and public security segments.
The company is headquartered in Singapore and has operations across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, with customers in more than 100 countries.
