EVA sets sights on jet repair business

Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp (長榮航太), which is 80-percent owned by the EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), wants to offer maintenance services for airlines from China before attempting to initiate cross-strait air links, an official said yesterday.

"We have filed our request to the Civil Aeronautics Administration [CAA] in July for permission to provide maintenance services for Chinese carriers," EVA spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) said.

A local Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday that the Civil Aeronautics Administration is open-minded about EVA's request.

"The CAA said they are optimistic about our request as the Chinese planes would fly to Taiwan only for maintenance," Nieh said. "But the CAA also told us that they would refer the request to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Mainland Affairs Council for further discussions because it involves entry permission for Chinese pilots."

Taiwan currently bans China-based carriers from flying to Taiwan, despite calls by airlines to open up direct transportation links across the Strait.

Though talks on cross-strait air links have been stalled because of recent political tensions, EVA, the nation's second-largest carrier, invited several Shanghai-based aviation officials to inspect the airline's maintenance facilities in July, aiming to tap into the emerging repair and maintenance business for Chinese carriers.

Officials from Shanghai Airlines Co (上海航空) expressed an interest in having four of its Boeing 767 jetliners repaired by Evergreen Aviation Technologies, Nieh said.

"We have the necessary facilities and we have the maintenance experience with Boeing 767 jets," Neih said.

EVA operates eight Boeing 767s, he added.

Nieh said the potential for the airplane repair and maintenance business is huge, but declined to specify how much it would earn from a deal with Shanghai Airlines.

EVA, China Airlines Co (華航), Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔航空), Air Asia (亞洲航空) and the Industrial Technology and Research Institute (工研院) are scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin Aircraft & Logistics Centers this morning, aiming to establish a joint venture that will tap into the repair and maintenance market in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a Ministry of Economic Affairs statement.