GMF AeroAsia Opens Massive Hangar In Indonesia
GMF AeroAsia has opened a 16-line narrowbody aircraft hangar at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the facility also includes a dedicated paint bay.
GMF AeroAsia has opened a 16-line narrowbody aircraft hangar at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the facility also includes a dedicated paint bay.
According to President and CEO Richard Budihadianto, the hangar is operating at 80% capacity, or 12 lines, its target for Garuda and third-party airline customers as it ramps up. Speaking at Aviation Week’s MRO Asia-Pacific Conference this week, he said he expects to operate it at full capacity in 2017.
Hangar four, at 6,500 square meters, is one of the biggest hangars in the world.
Budihadianto expects the MRO’s maintenance business to “double revenue in the next five years.” In 2014, GMF generated $264 million in MRO revenue, a 14.7% increase over 2013. That came from three hangars that can accommodate five lines of widebody work, plus a hangar for minor maintenance.
Garuda Indonesia Inaugurates GMF 'Hangar 4', World's Biggest Narrow Body Hangar
Garuda President & CEO M. Arif Wibowo stated that the increased capacity of GMF, with Hangar 4, is an example of concrete support from GMF AeroAsia, as a subsidiary, for Garuda Indonesia's sustainable business expansion program. "By the year 2020, the Garuda Indonesia Group will eventually operate a total of 241 aircraft. Also, Hangar 4 is a strategic initiative of GMF AeroAsia in seizing a large portion of the narrow-body aircraft maintenance market in Asia Pacific, which is forecast to become market leader in the MRO business, and furthermore, becoming a market leader for the largest aircraft maintenance business over the next five years," Arif added.
In the midst of rapid growth and expansion in Indonesia's aviation industry, the presence of Hangar 4 marks a new business opportunity and prospective investment to reinforce the national MRO industry. Supported by thousands of highly skilled workers, Hangar 4 is expected to optimally support both local and international airlines to comply with the global aviation safety standard as well as the accesibility of spare parts requirements.
The President & CEO of GMF AeroAsia, Richard Budihadianto, explained that the concept of Hangar 4 is "The Butterfly", consisting of two wings, with an office area and workshop in middle of the Hangar. "This concept comes from the willingness to have a Hangar with an international standard and a futuristic design. From the operational aspect, Hangar 4 GMF AeroAsia is highly effective because aircraft movement will be more flexible," he added.
"The unique design of Hangar 4 is evidenced by the implementation of an eco friendly concept. This ecofriendly building concept is GMF's responsibility to the earth. This concept is contained in the special construction of the Hangar, such as skylights on the roof and Panasap Glass on the walls of the Hangar to help optimize natural sunlight, the second floor's (office), has a curtain wall with laminated glass to maximize light circulation for a modern and transparent look, aluminum ceilings minimize air turbulence, while the roof has been designed to allow water to drain easily and therefore reduce the impact on the facade. Hangar 4 uses Metal Halide lamps to create white light and low electricity consumption," said Richard.
The whole construction of GMF's Hangar 4 was completed by Indonesians and this Hangar was built on a 66.940 m2 area with 64.000m2 available for production area and 17.600 m2 allocated for office space. Hangar 4 has the capability to maintain 16 narrow body aircraft at one time and one bay is also dedicated for aircraft painting. GMF's Hangar 4 can accommodate 16 narrow body aircraft in a parallel formation, with heavy and light maintenance, winglet modification, structure repairs, interior modifications, painting and other maintenance available.
GMF's Hangar 4 utilization will be completed in phases and is therefore expected to reach its full capacity (16 slots operationalized) in 2018. By 2016, GMF has predicted it will hace completed 209 maintenance projects, which will then increase by the next year to 250 maintenance projects, with 313 maintenance projects expected by 2018.