BOEING ESTABLISHES AIRCRAFT CONVERSION JV IN SHANGHAI.(Company overview)

BEIJING, Oct 25 Asia Pulse - China's first foreign-controlled aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) joint venture was established in Shanghai Tuesday.

The new facility, in which Boeing holds a 60 per cent stake, is also the first time that the U.S. aircraft manufacturer has taken a controlling share in an MRO joint venture.

Shanghai Airport Authority (SAA) and Shanghai Airlines respectively hold the remaining 25 per cent and 15 per cent stakes.

The joint venture, called Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services Co. Ltd, is not only expected to allow Boeing to capitalize on the booming aircraft MRO market in China, but will also help build Shanghai into an international aviation hub by 2010.

"Working together, we are taking the first of many steps towards offering our airline customers the services that will help them safely and efficiently expand, while keeping pace with the tremendous growth in commercial aviation that we see in China over the next 20 years," Scott Carson, president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said yesterday at the groundbreaking ceremony of the MRO plant.

Construction of the plant, which requires a total investment of US$103 million, will take up to two years to complete. It will have a four-bay hangar, with each one capable of housing wide-body aircraft.

The plant, at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, will perform Boeing's passenger-to-freighter conversions, upgrades to aircraft interiors, avionics and entertainment systems, as well as line maintenance and heavy maintenance checks.