A Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Thai Royal Swallow Airlines receiving service at Hainan Free Trade Port One-Stop Aircraft Maintenance Base. (Photo by HNA Technology)

Recently, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft from Thai Royal Swallow Airlines arrived at the inspection hangar of the Hainan Free Trade Port One-Stop Aircraft Maintenance Base in Haikou. It is receiving special maintenance services from Grand China Aircraft Maintenance Service Limited (referred to as “Grand China Maintenance”), a subsidiary of HNA Technology. This marks the second Thai airline customer following the first collaboration between Hainan Free Trade Port and Thai AirAsia, and it is the first time Thai Royal Swallow Airlines is cooperating with Grand China Maintenance for aircraft maintenance and inspection. This signifies a further expansion of the Southeast Asian aircraft maintenance market for Hainan Free Trade Port.

The maintenance project for the incoming Thai aircraft is a 4C-level inspection, covering various specialties such as avionics, power, fuselage, structure, wings, and cabin. Over 500 work cards have been issued for the project, with an estimated maintenance cycle of 14 days. The project benefits from the Hainan Free Trade Port’s preferential policies, including exemption from maintenance deposit, temporary inbound maintenance with permission for domestic sales, and bonded maintenance materials.

This year, the Hainan Free Trade Port One-Stop Aircraft Maintenance Base has successively undertaken its first aircraft maintenance projects from Thailand, Korea, and Vietnam, and secured a nearly billion-yuan aircraft painting order from Qatar Airways. Since its commencement, the base has completed over 1,300 aircraft maintenance projects and handled more than 159 aircraft painting tasks and 34,800 component repairs by the end of June this year. This includes over 40 inbound aircraft maintenance and painting projects.