Bombardier to grow Apac service hub in Singapore with S$100 million expansion

[SINGAPORE] Bombardier will boost its Asia-Pacific service centre in Singapore with a S$100 million expansion that is set to double the company’s current footprint in the city-state.

The Canadian company, which focuses on business and private jets, will build a new 250,000 square foot maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in JTC’s Seletar Aerospace Park to support aviation sector growth in Asia-Pacific.

Bombardier’s Singapore hub, which is currently the largest business aviation MRO hub in the region, is set to become the biggest in the world after the addition.

This comes as part of the company’s long-term strategy for growing its services business globally.

Paul Sislian, executive vice-president for aircraft sales and Bombardier aftermarket services, said that the aftermarket business, which includes MRO, is one of the company’s two growth pillars along with defence.

Business jet utilisation has grown by 60 per cent globally since 2019, he noted.

“We’re seeing... that utilisation is high, we are delivering more and more aircraft to Asia-Pacific, and family offices are migrating to Singapore... and they want service.”

The Singapore service centre supports “approximately 2,000 aircraft” a year; the new facility is expected to double that capacity, Sislian told The Business Times, adding that around 8 per cent of the company’s business comes from the Asia-Pacific.

Doubling footprint, capacity

Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling said that the expansion “cements Singapore’s place” at the centre of Bombardier’s Asia-Pacific operations.

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The new facility and increased MRO capabilities will also strengthen Singapore’s position as a leading business aviation hub in the region, she added.

The expansion was supported by JTC and the Singapore Economic Development Board.

Construction on the facility, located at Seletar Aerospace Road 1, is scheduled to begin in the second half of the year; operations will begin in H2 2028.

Bombardier’s Singapore hub currently employs around 300 people. The expansion will “support the creation of more than 200 highly skilled jobs over time”, the company said.

The facility will offer services including maintenance, modifications, avionics installation and round-the-clock emergency support. It will also offer painting and interior finishing, along with a component repair and overhaul workshop. In addition, it will have a customer lounge and crew rest area.

Private jets soar

Bombardier also announced that it has joined the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s Advanced Remanufacturing Technology Centre industry consortium as an anchor member.

The consortium looks into using new technologies to drive improvements across various industries.

Low said that under this initiative, Bombardier will work with Singapore’s R&D ecosystem to advance next-generation MRO technology, including digitalisation, automation and the use of artificial intelligence to make operations safer, more efficient and more reliable.

Toronto Stock Exchange-listed Bombardier reported revenue of C$1.6 billion (S$1.5 billion) for the first quarter, driven by “meaningful contribution” from services.

It has a record order book of C$20.3 billion, fed by strong demand for its latest business jet, the Global 8000, from high-net-worth individuals and business jet leasing companies such as Vista Global, Flexjets and NetJets.

Earlier in May, Vista Global said that its annual flight traffic from the Asia-Pacific region rose 25 per cent year on year in 2025, with top destinations including Shanghai and Hong Kong.

International airlines have reported thinning margins as a result of escalated jet fuel prices, but Bombardier representatives told BT that business aviation has continued to grow as the economics of private or business jets differ from commercial airlines.