When ExecuJet Aviation opened its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility at Tianjin Airport back in 2014, it might have seemed that the Europe-based international group had booked a somewhat obscure location to enter the China market. But now the company says that the facility, which is approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), is getting increasingly busy as traffic levels build, in part due to congestion at Beijing Capital Airport.
The airport, which is 70 miles (113 km) southeast of Beijing, was only handling around 10 to 15 business jets on any given day at the time ExecuJet’s facility opened. But Paul Desgrosseilliers, general manager of ExecuJet Haite Aviation Services (a joint venture with China’s Tianjin Haite) told AIN that today there are around 50 to 60 business aircraft parked at Tianjin most of the time.
ExecuJet chose the Tianjin site back in 2010, when it was already apparent that business aviation operations at Beijing Capital were set to become even more restricted due to limited capacity. “Operators are not happy [about not being able to fly into Beijing Capital], but it means that our business in Tianjin is one of the few that is seeing significant growth because the overall Chinese market is somewhat depressed,” Desgrosseilliers said.
The facility is an authorized service facility for Bombardier business aircraft, including the Challenger and Global families, as well as the Learjet 60. It is approved to conduct up to 36-month checks on all Challengers, and the 48-month check for the Challenger 300. The operation is set to get CAAC approval to handle the 4C (72-month) check for the Global jets, and its certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration covers up to 48-month checks. The company, which also holds Cayman Islands certification, is now working on getting equivalent maintenance approval for the Tianjin operation from the European Aviation Safety Agency.
ExecuJet Haite Aviation Services also is an authorized service center for Embraer Executive Jets. It provides 48-month checks for both the Legacy 650 and the Lineage 1000.
Tianjin Haite, which is based in China’s Sichuan province, owns the land on which the MRO facility sits with a 3,500 sq m (37,675 sq ft) hangar. The operation has its own taxiway and an engine run facility. Tianjin Haite also has a commercial airliner MRO facility at the same airport which supports Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft for Chinese operators.
The drive into the center of Beijing from Tianjin Airport takes around two hours, compared to 40 minutes from Capital Airport. Tianjin Airport operates its own FBO, and for now ExecuJet has no plans to provide ground handling in China, even though it has several of its own FBOs in other parts of the world. Its MRO teams provides technical support to aircraft on the ground in Beijing, as well as flying to other countries such as Malaysia to assist customers.
