New Zealand aviation firms wave flag at Singapore Airshow

New Zealand aviation companies will be waving the flag at Asia's biggest airshow in Singapore next week, as they try to cement existing commercial relationships and win new business.

The Singapore Airshow will run for seven days and attract more than 1000 exhibitors from about 50 countries.

Latest military hardware and commercial planes, including private jets and the new Airbus A350-1000, will be on display from next Tuesday.

Four companies - the Air New Zealand Aviation Institute, which is the airline's training division; Aspeq, which does aviation exams; ATCANZ, an airport consultancy company; and Oceania Aviation, a helicopter maintenance and repair firm - will join Aviation New Zealand on the stand.

''The companies individually are doing work in the region and we thought this was a good opportunity at the airshow, given the way the region is growing, to get a number of companies together - it gives the companies almost neutral ground to talk to existing customers and prospective customers,'' said Aviation NZ chief executive John Nicholson.

The Asia-Pacific region is the world's fastest growing region for aviation, taking about a third of new aircraft deliveries last year.

Aviation NZ has close to 300 members, and extrapolating from a 2010 study, the value of the industry here is estimated at $16 billion (including Air New Zealand's $5.2b turnover) and growing quickly.

The last time New Zealand was represented at the biennial Singapore Airshow was in 2010. Being a participant gave the companies access to the big database of other exhibitors and trade attendees, said Nicholson.

''Being able to get the companies on one stand is much cheaper for them rather than doing it by themselves.''

He said his organisation would be pushing the message about the breadth of the sector in New Zealand and its understanding of the needs of customers in the region.

''We've got scale that is appropriate for Asia.''

New Zealand had a long aviation history and a high number of aircraft of all types.
Nicholson said this country had one aircraft per 1000 people, whereas Asian countries had one aircraft per 300,000 people, to as few as one per 1 million people.

''We know quite a bit about aviation. We are doing a number of things in New Zealand; despite Asia being a big region, we do have scale that is appropriate for the region."

While there was little aircraft building here, this country was well regarded for training, repairs and overhauls, maintenance and precision components, such as sophisticated tools for working on commercial aircraft.

''We generally have the ability to turn around material or requirements much quicker than our international competition.''

Many Asian airlines were pretty circumspect about using pilots and engineers who came through their own countries' training schools, said Nicholson.

''They don't have any qualms about the quality of training that is delivered in New Zealand."