Lufthansa Technik Philippines will embark on a P2-billion expansion program to create more space for its maintenance and repair operations in the Philippines.
Lufthansa Technik president and chief executive Elmar Lutter said the company would triple the current space occupied by the company to 9,000 square meters and open as much as 300 jobs to Filipinos.
The expansion, he added, would be completed 13 months after the contract is awarded.
Lutter noted that the global maintenance, repair and overhaul market was expected to grow by 4 percent to 5 percent a year, with one third of of the expansion coming from the Asia Pacific region.
Increasing job opportunities in other industries and the growing global demand for skilled MRO workers, meanwhile, may lead to a labor shortage in the local industry.
Lutter said Filipinos were known as skilled aircraft mechanics in the world.
Lufthansa is registered as an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul company operating at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay, Cebu, Davao, Pampanga, Palawan and Aklan.
Lufthansa Technik Philippines is a joint venture between MacroAsia Corp., holding 49 percent, and Lufthansa Technik Group of Germany. The company is responsible for the maintenance and overhaul of Airbus A319, A320, A321, A330-200/-300, A340-200/-300/-600 and the A389 as well as Boeing 777.
It has been operating in the Philippines for 20 years and manages a 229,000 square-meter lot in Villamor Airbase with about 3,200 skilled employees.
The company continues to enjoy fiscal and non-fiscal incentives from the government that help Lufthansa deal with challenges, making the company resilient to stiff competition in the Asia Pacific region.
The incentives also help the company cope with the logistical costs of operating in an island country.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez vowed to give the support needed by aerospace companies to carry on expansion plans.
He said the expansions would help the Philippines to become an aerospace and MRO hub in the Asia Pacific.
“The Philippines is positioning itself as the hub for aerospace manufacturing and aftermarket services in the Asia Pacific Region. We have the young, educated, and highly-trainable workforce that is a boon to investors. If we achieve this goal, we can increase our high-value exports and provide decent jobs to more Filipinos,” said Lopez.
