The Association of Aerospace Industries Singapore (AAIS) has produced a well-illustrated booklet titled Propel to tell the remarkable story of the growth of Singapore’s aerospace industry. From small beginnings in the early 1970s, it has grown into a $9 billion business.
AAIS counts 190 members ranging from OEMs such as Airbus, Boeing, Collins, Rolls-Royce, and Thales, to a host of locally-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs), many of whom will appear at the Singapore Airshow in the Singapore Pavilion, which AAIS organized.
Maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) has been a key activity from the start, when what became ST Engineering began supporting the nascent Republic of Singapore Air Force. Until then, Singapore Airlines (SIA) had been the major employer of aerospace engineers.
In 1975, the SIA Engineering Company began doing engine overhauls for outside customers, and ST Engineering followed suit. Thanks to expansion and acquisitions, the company is now the world’s largest MRO provider and a leading passenger-to-cargo airline converter.
Early overseas companies to establish a presence in Singapore included Hamilton-Sundstrand, Hawker Pacific, and Heli Orient. In 1979, GE Aerospace became the first overseas OEM to arrive, performing engine MROs from 1979. Pratt & Whitney followed in 1983. Both companies employ about 2,000 people in Singapore and have introduced increasingly advanced technologies, such as additive manufacturing (GE) and production of fan blades and turbine disks (P&W).
Airbus began MRO activities here in 1977 through a joint venture with ST to service Aérospatiale helicopters. It later established a spare parts center and in 2016 opened the Airbus Asia Training Centre, which is the largest Airbus-branded pilot training center in the world, with 10 full-flight simulators.
Thales opened a hub here in the late 1980s to support its avionics on Airbus airliners. In 2008 the facility expanded to become the first production site outside France for the company’s avionics. It is now Thales’ largest center for avionics MRO.
Boeing arrived in 2002 via its takeover of Jeppesen Asia-Pacific, then expanded with the acquisition of parts supplier Aviall in 2006. The following year, it also established a training center that now has six simulators and five flight training devices. Boeing opened a composites structures laboratory in Singapore in 2016.
But the single largest investment in Singapore by an aerospace company was the $520 million Rolls-Royce invested in 2012 to produce fan blades and Trent engines. A joint venture with SIAEC, it spun off from the airline in 1992 and now boasts 23 joint ventures and subsidiaries in eight countries. Rolls-Royce has since centralized assembly and testing at its Derby, UK home, but the Singapore facility is now the sole producer of fan blades for the company’s entire engine range. It employs 2,300 people in Singapore.
Rolls-Royce's facility is located at the Seletar Aerospace Park, which was a government project to expand and upgrade an airfield that dates back to the 1930s. It now serves as home to more than 60 aerospace companies. Together with an aerospace-centric industrial estate at Loyang, Seletar typifies the support and encouragement that Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) has provided over the years, including tax incentives and infrastructure development. During the Covid pandemic, the EDB stepped in with job support and a deferred payment scheme.
Home-grown SMEs have also benefitted from the EDB. ACP Metal Finishing is an example featured in the Propel booklet. It started in 1981 as a specialist in surface treatments for various industries, but the EDB helped ACP to upgrade and it now majors on anodizing and plating of various aerospace components for both OEMs and MROs. It also provides non-destructive testing.
Other SMEs in the Singapore Pavilion include CW Aero Services (ground support equipment); Hope Technik (MRO), iCredo Technologies (counter-UAS solutions), Nandina REM (recycling of materials from retired aircraft); and Tyrida International (laser shock peening systems).
“Everyone is looking forward to the buzz at Singapore Airshow 2024, a testament to the resilience and dynamism of our aerospace ecosystem,” said AAIS chief executive Sia Kheng Yok. “AAIS is excited to showcase innovative SMEs at the Singapore Pavilion and are working with partners to facilitate meaningful discussions, forge connections, and shape the future of aerospace.”
Propel is available from the AAIS counter at Booth B-01 in the Singapore Pavilion in Hall A, at the airshow discount price of S$50 ($37).