Dubai’s new aerospace hub expecting more MRO opportunities as a result of “mergers and acquisitions in the next year”
The CEO of Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub (MBRAH) is expecting greater MRO opportunities to emerge as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, according to state news agency WAM.
Tahnoon Saif told the agency that the aerospace hub, located at Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South, was expecting some airlines to liquidate their engineering units to focus on their core business. “We are expecting a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the maintenance business over the next 12 months or so,” he said.
The hub is hosting companies such as Lufthansa Technik, GE, Emirates Pilot Training Academy and Dynamic Advanced Training.
Saif revealed that some 70 per cent of MBRAH’s infrastructure work is now complete, and that it is flexible enough to adapt to changing realities in the aviation industry. Industry partners have completed around 30 per cent of their projects in the hub, he noted.
“We intend talking to acquirers of companies – the large-sized companies that typically acquire smaller ones to achieve scale and cost-efficiencies,” said Saif.
He also noted the geographic advantages of the hub’s location in Dubai as a further reason businesses might be interested in using it.
Development work at MBRAH is expected to be completed by 2030, with an overall investment of AED17 billion (US$4.6 billion).