ASEAN’s aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul sector is in the middle of its most concentrated capacity build in a decade. Across four member states, hangars are being commissioned, agreements signed, and groundbreakings completed at a pace that reflects the region’s underlying fleet growth and the broader Asia-Pacific MRO market, valued by Mordor Intelligence at USD 4.35 billion in 2025 and projected to reach USD 8 billion by 2031.
In northern Vietnam, HAECO Group, Sun Group, and additional partners disclosed plans in November 2025 to invest USD 360 million in an MRO complex at Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam’s first privately-built airport. The agreement was framed initially through a memorandum of understanding signed by Sun Group, VinaCapital Holdings, Quang Ninh province, and HAECO, with HAECO CEO Richard Sell subsequently meeting Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh to advance investment procedures. HAECO has reportedly signed a 15-year contract with a US partner to service its aircraft fleet at the planned facility. The MoU references digitalisation, automation, technology transfer, and workforce training as core focus areas. The project remains in the early investment-procedure stage, with no construction timeline publicly disclosed.
In Vietnam, Vietjet topped out a USD 100 million two-hangar MRO facility at the new Long Thanh International Airport in December 2025. Designed and supervised by Mace and Apave, the complex will accommodate up to six narrowbody and two widebody aircraft, or up to ten narrowbodies in an alternative configuration. The carrier has positioned the facility as a means to reduce reliance on overseas technical services and support intra-fleet maintenance demand.
In Singapore, ST Engineering continues the phased opening of its S$170 million airframe MRO hangar at Changi Creek. The 904,000 square foot facility comprises four hangar bays, including a hybrid paint and maintenance bay. The first bay entered service in mid-2025, with the remaining three scheduled for completion by end of 2026. When fully operational, the facility is expected to add roughly ten percent to ST Engineering’s global airframe MRO capacity and generate around 1.3 million MRO manhours annually.
In Malaysia, Asia Digital Engineering, the MRO arm of Capital A, has been operating its 14-line hangar at the KLIA Aeronautical Support Zone since September 2024. The 380,000 square foot facility is the largest of its kind in the country. ADE has confirmed it is conducting soil testing on an adjacent five-acre plot for a supplementary four-line Phase 2 facility, citing forecast demand from regional and third-party customers.
In the Philippines, ACTSI is scheduled to complete a 7,000 square metre business aviation hangar expansion at Subic Bay by May 2026, designed in partnership with PrimeBMD and Colliers. The expansion is part of a longer-term programme to position Subic as a regional centre for business aviation MRO, complementing the country’s commercial maintenance footprint.
Several common threads run through these projects. Smart hangar design, digital workflow integration, and capacity for both narrowbody and widebody types appear across most of the new builds. Phased opening schedules are standard, with most facilities reaching full operation in late 2026 or 2027. Vietnam’s emergence with two simultaneous MRO developments, one anchored by a domestic carrier in the south and one anchored by an international operator in the north, signals that the country is moving from being a maintenance importer to a regional service provider. Across the broader region, ASEAN MRO capacity in 2027 will be more distributed, more digitally enabled, and considerably larger than it was in 2024.
That distribution will be on display in May 2026, when MRO Southeast Asia returns to Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad as host sponsor. For an industry whose physical footprint is expanding faster than its conference calendar, the return to KL is well timed.
