The XIESA joint venture between Safran Landing Systems and China Eastern Airlines has broken ground on its first MRO facility, located in Xi’an.
Vincent Mascré, CEO of Safran Landing Systems, and LIU Shaoyong, Chairman of China Eastern Group, have jointly laid the cornerstone for a new centre of excellence dedicated to landing gear maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO).
The ceremony took place on 20th July, ahead of the first meeting of the Board of Directors of the two partners’ new joint venture XIESA (Xi'an CEA Safran Landing Systems Services Co Ltd), created in November 2016, which will operate the facility located in the airport zone of the city of Xi'an.
Xi'an is already home to a maintenance hub, under development, for the China Eastern Airlines fleet. It gives both partners an ideal location for their new landing gear MRO plant, at the departure point for the historic "Silk Road", as well as the new rail network intended to link China and Europe. The company's priority will be the Chinese domestic market.
The 11,000m2 facility, including 8,700m2 of workshops, is now scheduled to be operational by January 2019 with a workforce of 350.