LOCAL aircraft parts makers can expect a higher import bill from France on the back of booming global demand for airplanes and helicopters.
As the aerospace industry eyes to hit $2.5 billion in export revenue by 2022, it might find an ally—and a strong buyer—in France. French Ambassador to the Philippines Nicolas Galey argued global demand for aircraft will continuously rise as long as tourism is prioritized by many governments.
“Everywhere in the world, as long as tourism is developing, air traffic is developing, [too],” Galey said in a BusinessMirror Coffee Club Forum held in Makati City on Wednesday.
Local manufacturers of parts and mechanisms are currently
supplying to the world’s largest aviation firms, including France-based Airbus
SE and the US’s The Boeing Co.. They mostly produce the galley for Airbus
planes,
according to Galey.
The galley is the compartment of a transport vessel where food can be stored and prepared.
“These parts of the aircraft are fixed on the Airbus A350, four were delivered to PAL [Philippine Airlines] last year. For this now globalized world, they [parts] were built here in the Philippines, sent to France, assembled in France and are now back in the Philippines,” the diplomat noted.
Last year PAL ordered from Airbus six A350-900s to be used for its nonstop flights to Europe and North America, including its longest route of over 8,000 nautical miles to New York.
Galey said it will be up to Airbus if it will increase purchases of parts and mechanisms from the Philippines. However, he is optimistic the firm will, as the demand for aircraft is always there—expanding by the minute.
Airbus on Monday secured a deal with aircraft leasing firm SMBC Aviation Capital for the procurement of 65 planes from the A320neo family. The order, made up of 50 A320neo and 15 A321neo single-aisle aircraft, amounted to $7.47 billion. This brings to 71 the total number of planes from that bracket procured by SMBC since last year.
Cebu Pacific also on the same day received its first Airbus A321 new engine option (neo) that augmented its fleet count to 72 aircraft.
After receiving the first of 32 orders, the budget carrier is expected to get another five A320 neos from Ireland-based aircraft leasing firm Avolon. The additional aircraft are seen to boost the flight services of Cebu Pacific, which flew its highest number of passengers in a single day in the country last December 21.
Airbus finished 2018 with 800 commercial vessels delivered, slightly behind US rival Boeing that sold 806 aircraft.
Domestic aircraft parts manufacturers seek to breach $2.5 billion in export revenue by 2022, after posting a compounded annual growth rate of 4.2 percent from 2012 to 2016. In 2016 Europe was the country’s largest export destination for aircraft parts with a share of 45.8 percent, followed by the Americas with 40.8 percent and Asia-Pacific with 12.8 percent.