“Other Kiwi aviation repair firms will also benefit from regular maintenance contracts to overhaul engines. A single-engine could cost up to $100,000 to overhaul and Thailand has two dozen of these aircraft in use,” Burrows said.
While New Zealand has a 50-year history as an aviation supplier to Thailand — with its Air Force having purchased 72 New Zealand-made aircraft and millions of dollars of parts — this is the first time an exclusive parts and service agreement has been formalised in this way.
He said the opportunity to grow the supply relationship between New Zealand and Thailand would represent a multimillion-dollar boost to the sector’s export earnings and could create dozens more jobs and significant expansion of the local industry.
“Thailand’s investment in their aviation industry is expected to be significant over the short term. The country is committed to defence force modernisation and allocates around $1.8b to its Air Force each year, presenting a significant opportunity for New Zealand to expand its share of a rapidly growing market.
“In addition, the Thai government wants its commercial aviation sector to become a key regional hub within the next five years and has ambitious plans to transform its major airports in Bangkok and Phuket. We anticipate other opportunities for New Zealand to support this aspiration as their industry grows,” he says.
The agreement will be signed during a seven-day mission led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with an accompanying business delegation to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.
Luxon said New Zealand had a serious ambition to lift relationships with this region “in ways that deliver real benefits and that advance our shared security and economic interests”.
Burrows said defence spending in Southeast Asia was expected to rise by billions of dollars and New Zealand-designed aeronautical technology had a growing role to play in supporting the military-led humanitarian needs of its regional partners — as well as helping to address the impact of climate change.
“In countries like Thailand where the heat index can reach as high as 54C, precipitation is becoming less frequent and droughts are more prevalent and intense, air quality and climate change are the nation’s leading environmental concerns.
“At the start of every year, Thailand’s Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation initiates a cloud-seeding programme to stimulate artificial rain and dampen down fine particulates in the air caused by vehicle emissions and agricultural practices, as well as mitigating dry weather conditions in the main crop-growing areas.
The operation utilises a fleet of 30 rainmaking aircraft to ease the impact of climate change on the country’s farming sector and prevent hailstorms and forest fires in some regions of the country.
NZAero, formerly Pacific Aerospace, is hoping to sell more of its planes in Thailand and other parts of Asia.
The firm had recently launched its SuperPac XSTOL (extremely short take-off and landing) aircraft with a 41 per cent greater climb performance and 10 per cent faster cruise speed than its predecessor.
Burrows says the SuperPac provides an off-the-shelf model that can be rapidly reconfigured for humanitarian and defence roles including medivac, border patrol, aerial photography, intelligence, search and rescue, skydive deployment, rainmaking, pollution control, firefighting as well as passenger/freight, agricultural operations and geophysical survey.
Burrows said his firm would meet defence force decision-makers and private aviation operators in Singapore and the Philippines.
“The Philippines is set to increase their annual defence budget by over 50 per cent to modernise their military in the next five years, similarly Singapore’s increase in defence spending in the coming year will be highest in over a quarter of a century.”
Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
