Lufthansa Technik rides on recovery of aviation industry

MANILA, Philippines — Aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service provider Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP) wants to hop on the aviation industry’s recovery and deliver 1.3 million man-hours of work for the year.

LTP deputy chief financial officer Stefan Yordanov told reporters that the firm registered 600,000 man-hours in the seven months to July, and hopes to fulfill another 700,000 for the rest of 2022.

“We will be okay if we achieve 1.3 million man-hours (given that) we look to achieve more in the second half of the year to somehow benefit from the recovery of the industry,” Yordanov said.

Yordanov said LTP has reinstated at least 70 percent of its pre-pandemic capacity, although the firm could find it challenging restoring its full operations. For one, he admitted that aviation itself has yet to recover to the level of its activities prior to the pandemic.

However, Yordanov believes that LTP can weather the uncertainties for as long as travel keeps up its recovery pace. As proof, he said that even as airfares were going up due to the rising cost of jet fuel, airlines are reopening routes one after the other to capture flight demand.

LTP president and CEO Elmar Lutter also said the Philippine unit of Hamburg-based Lufthansa Technik AG will expand its MRO bases nationwide with strong consideration to build a new one at the Clark International Airport.

Also, Lutter said LTP is keeping an eye on how the development of the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan and Sangley Point Airport in Cavite pans out.

“In the Philippines, in Luzon, besides NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport), at the moment it is only Clark (that we are considering for expansion),” Lutter said.

“There are two more airport projects contemplated in the Bulacan and Sangley ports and we are observing what is happening there. These are our options, along with Clark,” he added.

Between April and August, LTP provided MRO services to a total of 18 aircraft in its hangars at the MacroAsia Special Economic Zone. For Hangar 1A, the facility inaugurated last week, Lutter said the firm hopes to open its third line within the year to expand capacity.

“Times are very uncertain, we have to somehow see what is happening next, but you don’t want to stop there. We want to explore new possibilities because we want to grow our footprint. That [expansion] would be in the Philippines and also beyond in the region,” Lutter said.

On Friday LTP opened Hangar 1A, a 9,000-sqm facility that increases the firm’s capacity by 20 percent and requires the employment of an additional 275 personnel.