Malaysia Airlines and Pemco Aviation Group Inc, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Asian Aerospace 2004 for an aircraft cargo conversion joint venture operation to be initiated in Subang, Malaysia.
Encik Mohd Roslan Ismail, Malaysia Airlines’ General Manager - Engineering and Maintenance, signed the MoU on behalf of the airline whilst Mr Hal Chrisman, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Pemco Aviation Group signed on behalf of the US based company.

The MoU provides for an alliance between Malaysia Airlines and Pemco’s subsidiary, Pemco World Air Services, allowing them to effectively pursue the conversion of passenger aircraft to freighters in South East Asia by offering in-region conversion services at Malaysia Airlines facilities at Subang, Malaysia.

Malaysia Airlines and Pemco World Air Services will thus establish a training and exchange programme for employees at their respective facilities in Malaysia and the United States of America, where Pemco World Air Services will provide key technical supervision and training during the establishment of aircraft conversion capabilities at Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines in turn will provide its engineering manpower and its Hangar 1 in Subang for this project.

On completion of the training and other activities necessary to prepare Malaysia Airlines, aircraft conversion work will commence at their facilities in Subang. This will be followed by the formation of a joint marketing team to offer freighter conversion jobs to aircraft operators throughout the world.

After the signing ceremony Encik Mohd Roslan said, “Our Engineering Maintenance support has been actively engaged in the company’s turnaround initiatives started in 2002. Today’s event is yet another achievement of our aggressive drive to expand and market our excellent technical and ground support expertise to customers worldwide”.

“It is also testimony to the airline’s contribution in expanding business opportunities towards increasing national, regional and global competitiveness of Malaysia’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) sector as envisioned in the objectives of the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) “, he added.

Mr Ron Aramini, president and Chief Executive Officer of Pemco Aviation Group said, “We are beginning a key strategic relationship with Malaysia Airlines that benefits all parties. We know Malaysia Airlines has an excellent reputation and we are very pleased that they have become one of our first regional partners”.

“With Pemco’s extensive cargo conversion experience and our combined ability to produce a quality product at the right price for the marketplace, we believe this alliance to be a strong programme for years to come”.

Malaysia Airlines is one of Asia’s largest commercial air carrier, flying more than 40,000 passengers to over 100 destinations across 6 continents daily. Operating 100 aircraft, its fleet is one of the world’s youngest, dominated by Airbus A330s, Boeing 737s, Boeing 747s and the Boeing 777s- the most technically advanced aircraft in the sky. It holds a lengthy record of service excellence, having received more than 100 awards in the last 10 years. More information can be obtained at the airline’s website www.malaysiaairlines.com

Pemco World Air Services is one of the world’s leading third party cargo conversion operations. It has a fully developed 737-300 aircraft conversion programme, accredited a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) by the United States Federal Aviation Administration. To date, Pemco has performed nearly 300 conversions on 19 different types of aircraft. This includes every BAe-146 ever converted, the first B727-200 Class “C” (convertible combi), and the only B737-300 quick change (QC) and pure freighter conversions.
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