Boeing MRO Center completed… Yeongcheon High-Tech Park ‘Aspires’ to be an Avionics Industry Hub
The Gyeongbuk Province announced that the construction of the “Boeing Avionics MRO Center,” located in Nokjeon-dong, Yeongcheon city, is now completed. The Boeing Avionics MRO Center was built with a total investment of USD 20 million for Phase 1, in a 14,052 m2 site with a total floor area of 930 m2. The center will be used to test avionics parts for the latest fighter aircraft of the South Korean military, F-15K, and to perform maintenance functions.
Boeing is reportedly planning to supply maintenance services for the aviation electronics parts of aircraft from other makers based on long-term licenses and contractual consents, while increasing the amount of its investment in the future. Moreover, the company plans to develop the MRO center as the avionics MRO hub for the entire Asia-Pacific region. Currently, the number of military aircraft made by Boeing in the Asia-Pacific region is around 1,200 units. As a result, it is likely that Korea might become the center of the MRO market in the region.
Along with the completion of the MRO center of Boeing, the Avionics Test Center will be built next to it and will be used for testing, R&D, and quality assurance of avionics parts. The center will be operational no later than the beginning of next year, and will be equipped with various instruments. In addition to the completion of the MRO center, the Gyeongbuk Province will proceed to develop a specialized parts industry complex and an aviation industry parts industrial complex, which will be called “Aerotech Valley.” The Gyeongbuk Province is planning to pour in some 37 billion won in tax money by June 2017 to build the Avionics Test Center and benefit from the so-called ‘synergy’ effects for ‘concomitant growth’ of related industries.
An official of the Gyeongbuk Province said, “We will make sure the avionics industry will be our region's bread and butter for the next 100 years.”
