ExecuJet Europe (Switzerland) (VCN, Zurich) has received approval from China's civil aviation authority (CAAC) for its maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) business at Kuala Lumpur Subang to provide line and heavy maintenance on Chinese-registered Bombardier Aerospace and Gulfstream Aerospace aircraft.

The approval covers Gulfstream IV and variants of the Bombardier Challenger and Global Express series aircraft, Ivan Lim, vice president of ExecuJet MRO Services Asia, said in a statement on August 14.

“This approval by the CAAC is significant because it means ExecuJet’s maintenance facility at Subang Airport, near Kuala Lumpur, is permitted to do heavy and line maintenance on these aircraft registered in China,” he explained.

He added that access to China’s business aviation market, the biggest in the Asia Pacific region, would open up new opportunities for the Malaysian MRO specialist to continue to expand.

ExecuJet Europe, a unit of Luxaviation (LXA, Luxembourg), revealed in mid-July that it would double its capacity at its Subang base by building a new facility there. It already operates a 5,900-square-metre hangar and office area at the airport.

Lim told Aviation International News that 95% of the clients of ExecuJet MRO Services Malaysia come from outside Malaysia. He said that the motivation for applying for approval to be a Part 145 maintenance organisation approved by the CAAC was that a number of business jet operators in China had approached it asking for heavy maintenance checks on their aircraft.