DUBAI—IER MRO Industries, the maintenance business of industrial gas turbine specialist International Energy Resources, is looking to break ground this summer on its planned commercial engine overhaul and testing facility in Dubai, which will focus on narrowbody engine maintenance.
Following the announcement of the planned location at Dubai South last year, Larry Howie, CEO and Chairman of the company that will operate as IER MRO Industries, said that the preliminary designs for the facility have been completed and approved for the planned 1.3 million-ft.2 facility. It has been allocated land formerly occupied by Emirates for the project and will operate inside of an economic free zone.
“It’s a three-year program and we hope to have the test facility ready by the end of 2027 with the MRO to follow that in the first quarter of 2028,” said Howie, who reveals that the planned facility at the Dubai World Central area will focus initially on CFM International CFM56-7Bs, which it already holds a license for, and it eventually plans to add Leap 1A and 1B and International Aero Engines V2500 engine repair capability. He said the company holds existing knowledge and capability of LM2500, based on the CF6-6 commercial engine and LM6000 gas turbines based on the CF6-80C2.
Howie said it is now going into the detailed design and engineering phase of both the MRO shop and the test facility, which will have a thrust capacity of 100,000 lb. The company identified an opportunity in commercial narrowbody maintenance given the future fleet projections of the Middle East and the relatively few narrowbody engine specialists operating in the region.
He said it is now talking to OEMs about how best to support them going forward. “We have the capability already working with GE, so while we’re effectively the new kids on the block, we have aeroderivative experience and knowledge,” he said. “With the demand that’s obviously here at the moment, and the projection for the requirements for engine overhaul, this shop will be handling approximately 500 engines a year.”
IER MRO Industries plans to purchase its own inventory, where it will effectively own CFM engines and trade up on those within its existing facilities. “We’re going straight down to component level, setting up repairs, repair procedures and then going right through into module building, module assemblies and then into testing,” he said.
Howie said it will look to new technologies to bring efficiencies to the business once they are up and running. “We’re going to be adding artificial intelligence to the development of procedures to make a more effective and efficient way, and then eventually also applying a lot of robotics and automations in the management of the materials, inventories and things like that.” He added that a standard MRO operation of this size would typically employ 500-600 people, but that IER MRO plans to employ 200-250 people at the site.
Using tooling from its existing facility, IER MRO will begin training its workforce for the new MRO venture at its existing site at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Freezone. An attached training facility at the planned new shop will see the company utilize the traditional apprenticeship route to develop talent, which Howie said it has time to develop given it is operating on a three-year program timeline. “I would imagine somewhere between 25-50 people a year going through the training program selectively and bringing them right through to certification level with the necessary authorities.”
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