Taiwan's EGAT and American GE Sign JV to Repair Aircraft Engine

Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp. (EGAT), a Taiwan-based aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul firm affiliated with the Evergreen Group, a conglomerate of air transportation and ocean shipping, has reached an agreement with U.S.'s GE to set up a joint venture to repair aircraft engines in Taiwan.

The joint venture will have paid-in capital of NT$500 million initially, which will be 80% owned by GE and scheduled to start up next year as the fourth maintenance and repair center for GE's GEnx engine family alongside the other three in the U.K., Germany and Brazil. EGAT and GE will continue to invest NT$3 billion in the JV  in the coming three years, and will adjust the ownership ratio to 49:51 by 2019.

GEnx is the most advanced and best-selling aircraft engine ever among GE's products. So far, more than 1,500 units of GEnx have been ordered since the engine was first adopted in airplanes in 2011, including 300 units to be delivered this year for use in Boeing 787 and 747-8 jetliners.

The latest JV, in fact, may be deemed as an expanded partnership between EGAT and GE, as EGAT has been one of GE's partners for its CF6-80 series engines in Asia since receiving investment from the U.S. firm in 1998.

At the agreement signing ceremony held in early April, GE Aviation president, David Joyce, noted that his firm has decided to establish its first and only repair center for GEnx engines in Asia partly because of a close partnership between EGAT and GE, and partly because of EGAT's proven quality of repair and maintenance services and strong management capability.

Meanwhile, Chang Kuo-wei, president of EVA Airways Corporation, an affiliate of Evergreen Group, emphasized that the JV will pump more growth momentum into Evergreen Group's aircraft repair and maintenance business in the future, primarily because sales of GEnx engines will hopefully show considerable growth potential after defects in Boeing 787 Dreamliners are completely eliminated.

With the Asian market for air travel fast-growing over the past years, global aircraft repair and maintenance services have been gradually shifting to Asia, motivating EGAT to look to build closer cooperation with foreign partners. (SC)