Singapore's aerospace industry enjoys strong growth, especially in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, said Raymond Lim, Minister for Transport, at a ceremony of Singapore Airlines' new facilities on Friday.

In 2005, Singapore accounted for about 25 percent of the Asian MRO market share and 6 percent of the international market share. Its overall aerospace industry registered an output of 5.2 billion Singapore dollars (about 3.3 billion U.S. dollars), with MRO services contributing 90 percent of the total output and employing over 14,000 people.

He said that Singapore's success as an aerospace hub is founded on three key factors. First, Changi Airport's strong traffic throughput and connectivity not only contributes to the demand for MRO services but also enables aircraft parts to be sent to Singapore, be repaired, and be sent back to airlines quickly.

Singapore's pro-business regulatory environment also facilitates the certification required for MRO services, hence resulting in cost and time savings, said Lim, adding that Singapore's ready pool of skilled manpower has supported the growth of Singapore-based MRO companies.

The global aerospace industry has performed strongly in the past few years on the back of the strong growth in global air travel and aircraft orders, particularly in Asia.

Last year, Asia led all regions worldwide with a 7.6 percent increase in international passenger traffic and 3.2 percent increase in cargo traffic, exceeding the 6.5 percent and 3 percent growth for global passenger and cargo traffic.

Lim estimated that over the next two to three years, Asia's passenger and cargo traffic growth is likely to accelerate to about 6.8 percent and 8.5 percent respectively, outperforming the previous forecast of 5.6 percent and 6.3 percent.

Source: Xinhua