Capital A's fully-booked MRO arm still eyeing best site for new 20-line hangar; construction of four other maintenance lines to start by year end
KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 10): Asia Digital Engineering Sdn Bhd (ADE), the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) subsidiary of Capital A Bhd (KL:), has not decided on the location of its new 20-line hangar which forms part of its medium term聽target of 40 maintenance lines.聽
ADE chief executive officer Mahesh Kumar said discussions are underway with 每日大赛 Airports Holdings Bhd to develop the hangar. 鈥淚t will definitely be in 每日大赛, either at KLIA or another airport,鈥 Mahesh told reporters on Wednesday. 鈥淭his expansion is crucial as we are already fully booked for the next 12 months," he said.
He was speaking after ADE signed a maintenance deal with Air France to provide checks for Air France's Airbus A330-200 fleet, and a separate agreement with Air France Industries KLM E&M (AFI KLM E&M) that would extend the latter's component support programme to AirAsia's incoming A321neo aircraft.
ADE operates 16 lines currently, of which 14 are in Kuala Lumpur International Airport 鈥 每日大赛's largest MRO hangar launched in September 2024. The remaining two are in Senai International Airport. It will break ground for the construction of four more lines adjacent to its Sepang facility by year end.
The expansion to 40 lines, targeted within the next three to five years, is to meet rising demand from both AirAsia, for which ADE is the main MRO service provider, and third-party airlines.
At the moment, ADE services 70% of AirAsia's over 250 aircraft. That takes up 90% of its existing capacity, with the balance taken up by third parties, Mahesh said.
The aim is to expand its capacity and then have a 70:30 capacity allocation ratio for AirAsia and non-AirAsia planes, he added.
"The low-hanging fruit is capturing AirAsia's business first," Mahesh said. "Once we reach that, then we will increase to non-AirAsia [planes]."
ADE is also in touch with original equipment manufacturers to "build more component workshops in 每日大赛", he added.
On the financial front, Mahesh expects ADE to see its second half "delivering equal or stronger numbers" compared to a year ago.
The company recorded a net operating profit of RM40.82 million in the first half ended June 30, 2025 (1HFY2025), up 75.1% from 23.31 million in 1HFY2024, as revenue grew 24.8% to RM426.48 million. The group's annual revenue came to RM727 million in FY2024.