Malaysia’s aerospace revenue to return to pre-Covid-19 level in 2022: Naico
22 Mar 2021
Malaysia’s aerospace revenue is expected to recover to pre-pandemic level of over RM16 billion in 2019 as early as 2022 if the country can capture new work packages from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) suppliers.
“We anticipate the sector to rebound and reach the RM16 billion level from 2022,” National Aerospace Industry Coordinating Office (Naico) head Shamsul Kamar Abu Samah said at a press conference after the soft launch of Selangor Aviation Show (SAS) 2021 here today.
“The recovery will be expedited if the industry can expand its cargo, business jet, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) as well as training facilities,” he added.
Shamsul Kamar said work packages can be distributed by the OEMs to benefit not just tier-one and tier-two local suppliers, but also the whole ecosystem through product localisation.
“We would like to localise the production of OEM components as much as we could,” he said.
He said Malaysia aimed to develop a bio-source materials for the aircraft within five years.
“We look into producing bio-source materials such as aircraft seats, cabin interior and equipment.”
He said Malaysia’s aerospace revenue had shrunk between 20 per cent and 30 per cent in 2020 from 2019’s level of RM16.2 billion, dragged by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This had halted most of the manufacturing and services activities of aerospace, while some of the workforce was laid off due to worldwide travel restriction, pushing commercial and business aircraft grounded.
“We are still assessing our data and hope the industry can recover quickly this year. However, there are other businesses in general aviation that continue to grow, contributing to the increment of MRO activities and training.”
Shamsul Kamar said the International Trade and Industry Ministry and Naico aspired to bring new work packages to help tier-one and tier-two suppliers to contribute to developing new aircraft such as business jet or small aircraft.
Meanwhile, he said Malaysia can make use of its local talent and expertise to develop drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
“We want to develop an ecosystem that not limited to drone but also UAVs, vertical or short take-off and landing (VTOLs) and autonomous flying object, for the local and export markets,” he added.
Source: NST
