National Aerospace Industry Coordinating Office (NAICO) head Shamsul Kamar Abu Samah said new work packages would mainly be in the manufacturing and services sectors within the aerospace ecosystem.
“We anticipate the sector to rebound and reach the RM16 billion level beginning 2022. However, the recovery period will be expedited if the industry can expand its cargo, business jet, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) as well as the training facilities to achieve the recorded revenue milestone,” he told reporters after the soft launch of the Selangor Aviation Show 2021 here today.
Shamsul said that not only could work packages be distributed to local suppliers from Tier One and Tier Two levels, the ecosystem itself could benefit from product localisation.
“We would like to localise the production of components as much as we can,” he said.
In the long-term, he said, Malaysia plans to develop bio-source materials for aircraft within five years.
“We are looking into producing bio-source materials such as aircraft seats, cabin interior and equipment,” he said.
He said Malaysia’s aerospace revenue shrank between 20% and 30% in 2020 from 2019’s level of RM16.2 billion, dragged down by the pandemic.
Most aerospace manufacturing and services activities were halted, while some of the workforce was laid off due to the worldwide travel restriction, causing commercial and business aircraft to be grounded.
“We are still assessing our data and hope the industry can recover quickly this year. However, there were other businesses in general aviation that grew, contributing to the increment of MRO activities and training,” he said.
Over the last few months, the government announced a number of initiatives for the aerospace sector which will be considered as an important part of the industry under the 12th Malaysia Plan.
He said the important factor was on how to manage and stabilise the industry while ensuring the affected people can stay in the business and be upskilled in order to support the industry when it stabilises in a year or two.
Shamsul said the international trade and industry ministry and NAICO aspired to bring new work packages to help OEM, mainly the Tier One and Tier Two suppliers, contribute in developing new aircraft such as business jets or small aircraft.
Meanwhile, he said Malaysia can make use of its local talent and expertise in developing drones by expanding local companies’ capabilities, backed by research in universities and training centres.
“We want to develop the ecosystem that is not only limited to drones but to include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), vertical or short take-off and landing and autonomous flying objects.
“To be able to produce our own products in the next five years — like drones or UAVs — we need to see how we can develop our local products that can be used for the local market and for export to the regional market,” he added.