ST Engineering opens fourth airframe MRO hangar in Singapore

ST Engineering has opened its fourth airframe maintenance facility in Singapore: a hangar at Changi Airport that the company says raises its widebody MRO capacity in its home country by about 40%.

The facility covers 84,000 sq m and has four widebody aircraft bays, one a hybrid line used for both painting and maintenance. Ground was broken in September 2023, and the first aircraft was inducted in April this year. Since then the site has worked on aircraft from operators including Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Atlas Air. It joins ST Engineering's other MRO lines, among them operations in the United States, mainland China and Germany.

Technology is central to how the hangar is run. ST Engineering calls it a testbed for new engineering methods and is targeting a long-term productivity gain of around 25%. Drones inspect aircraft exteriors, including the upper surfaces normally reached with scaffolding or lifts. According to ST Engineering, the inspection system's AI models can flag paint defects, dents and corrosion. A robotic arm tool supports engine MRO and landing gear checks. Humanoid and autonomous mobile robots move parts from the warehouse to the shop floor, which the company says frees technicians to concentrate on maintenance. ST Engineering is also trialling a digital maintenance operations centre meant to give a real-time view of task status on the shop floor and of maintenance slot use across facilities, which it says will help optimise capacity and reduce delays.