"The B-747 aircraft can hold up to 4 at once. It is a large-scale facility built for commercial aircraft maintenance. However, domestic airlines often do not use this place, which leads to many empty days in the factory. To grow the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) industry, policy support is urgently needed."
On the 11th, I visited the MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul) industrial complex established in Yongdang-ri, Sacheon City, Gyeongsangnam-do. Located just 10 minutes by car from the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) Sacheon plant, this place is home to Korea Aerospace Service (KAEMS), which is a subsidiary of KAI and the only aircraft MRO corporation certified by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
As the influence of Korea's defense industry grows, the MRO industry is also gaining attention. Aircraft such as fighter jets or helicopters do not simply end their lifecycle after sale; they can be supported through maintenance, repair, and overhaul. Generally, the size of the aircraft MRO market is 1.5 to 2 times the export value of equipment. If 48 FA-50 fighter jets are sold for about 4 trillion won, the FA-50 MRO market is larger at 6 trillion won.
Various aircraft under maintenance were packed into the KAEMS military maintenance and helicopter building. In the helicopter section, they were repairing the Korea-type utility helicopter Surion, which is used by various government agencies. Police, fire departments, and maritime police sought KAEMS's helicopter building for helicopter maintenance and repairs. KAEMS executive Baek said, "Helicopter maintenance usually takes about a week, but during the forest fire in Gyeongbuk last March, we completed maintenance in 2 to 3 days," and added, "Throughout the week, helicopters were coming to KAEMS, and the employees dedicated themselves to maintenance without leaving work, even at midnight."
KAEMS also carries out upgrades in addition to maintenance and repair. In the KAEMS military maintenance building, they were conducting upgrade work on the Falcon 2000LXS. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration is bringing the French Dassault's twin-engine jet passenger aircraft Falcon 2000LXS as part of the second system development project to enhance the Baekdu system's capabilities and is modifying it into a reconnaissance aircraft.
Unlike the military maintenance and helicopter buildings, the commercial aircraft section, which was the largest, appeared somewhat desolate. There was only one commercial aircraft under maintenance. Furthermore, it was not a domestic airline but a commercial aircraft of Philippine Airlines. The logos of domestic airlines filling one wall of the commercial aircraft section seemed out of place. Domestic airlines hold small shares of KAEMS.
Baek did not hide his disappointment. He explained, "We want to take care of MRO for domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs), but compared to Southeast Asia or Mongolia, our labor costs are higher, making price competitiveness insufficient." The maintenance cost for one commercial aircraft of a low-cost carrier is usually around 600 million to 700 million won, while in Southeast Asian countries where labor costs are half of Korea's, maintenance costs are at half the level. This is why domestic low-cost airlines are going overseas instead of seeking KAEMS, of which they are shareholders.
Baek noted, "Domestic low-cost airlines spend about 3 trillion won a year on aircraft maintenance, and two-thirds of that is flowing out to overseas MRO companies," adding, "Due to the difficulty of price competition, we are also accepting losses to secure maintenance orders at 300 million or 400 million won."
To grow the MRO industry, Baek stated that the government needs to prepare support measures. He suggested giving incentives during the allocation of transportation rights for low-cost carriers that maintain aircraft domestically. He said, "Currently, we are only performing maintenance on about 2 aircraft a month in the commercial aircraft section, but if we could increase the maintenance workload to 4 or 5 per month, we could break even," and added, "I hope the new government can find solutions to industrialize MRO."