Indonesian โAerospace Firm PTDI Eyes Latin American MRO Market for CASA-Designedโฃ Aircraft
SรO PAULO – Indonesia‘s state-owned aerospace company, PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), is dispatching โคa delegation to Sรฃo Paulo this week to pursue maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) contracts forโข aircraft originally designed by the now-defunct Spanish planemaker CASA. The business gathering,the Indonesia-Latin america and the โขCaribbean (INA-LAC) businessโ forum on September 22-23,presents a notable prospectโฃ for PTDI to establish a foothold in the international aerospace industry.
PTDI, formerly known as Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), is focusing โฃon servicingโฃ C-212 Aviocar aircraft -โฃ a medium cargo plane used by bothโฃ civilian and military operators – andโ other CASA models currently in operation across Latin America and the โCaribbean.With CASA ceasing maintenance operations โafter becoming part of Airbus Defense andโ Space, a gap has emerged that PTDI is positioned to fill.
“Many aircraft produced by CASA, be it the C-212 or other models, are present here [in Latin America and the Caribbean]. However, CASA no longer does the maintenance work, and this is something that PTDI can do,” explained Epiphania Riris Wusananingdyah, a director at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry.
Indonesian diplomatic missions have alreadyโ arrangedโ meetings between PTDI representatives โand air forces โขfrom paraguay, โUruguay, Peru, โEcuador, and Suriname, according to โWusananingdyah. “They need those planes. This is an incredibly large opportunity. If we can tap โinto the [MRO market], it would cement our footprint in theโ international aerospace industry,” she stated.
While PTDIโฃ also manufactures aircraft, including the CN-235 multi-purpose aircraft – co-designed with CASA – the company’s primary focus at the Sรฃo Paulo forumโข will be securing MRO contracts. Indonesia currently possesses the largest fleet of C-212s, having assembled the aircraftโค under license in Bandung between โthe 1970s โฃand 1980s. Airbus Military transferred C-212 light transport production to โIndonesia in 2013. PTDI now produces the โฃNC212i, an upgraded version of the C-212.
CASA, โฃfounded in 1923, underwent several transformations beforeโ ceasing operations in 1999 and ultimately being integrated into EADS, later becoming part of Airbus โMilitary and then Airbus Defense and Space.