Incheon Airport Attracts US Cargo Aircraft Specialized Maintenance Facility

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Atlas Air, the world's largest cargo airline based in the United States, is installing a dedicated cargo aircraft maintenance facility at Incheon Airport.

Incheon International Airport Corporation announced that on the 19th of last month (local time), it signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for investment attraction of a dedicated express cargo aircraft maintenance facility at the headquarters of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW) in New York, USA.

The MOA was signed by Sharp Technics K, a domestic aviation maintenance (MRO) specialist company, and Atlas Air. According to the agreement, Atlas Air and Sharp Technics K will establish a foreign-invested joint venture to construct a dedicated maintenance facility within Incheon Airport and operate it starting in 2025.

The joint venture will initially operate a facility sized to accommodate 2.5 large aircraft bays from early 2025, and plans to add another facility of the same size after comprehensively reviewing maintenance demand and market conditions.

Upon completion, the facility will be able to accommodate 5 large aircraft bays simultaneously.

It is expected that about 40% of the 138 aircraft owned, leased, or under consignment management by AAWW (as of 2019) operating in the Asian region will receive maintenance at this facility.

According to AAWW’s annual report, the cost of maintenance volume handled in the Asian region is estimated at $111 million annually (approximately 130 billion KRW). The cumulative export effect (sales revenue) over 50 years from 2025 is estimated at about $5.6 billion (approximately 6.5 trillion KRW).

The industry expects that the facility installation will create approximately 1,200 new maintenance jobs (600 jobs per 2.5 bays).

Earlier, in May, Incheon Airport Corporation signed an MOA with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), an Israeli state-owned comprehensive aerospace company, to establish a cargo aircraft conversion facility.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.