The Asia-Pacific aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry will witness robust growth from the second half of 2010, following the severe impact of recession, which is expected to lift after the first half of the year, according to Frost & Sullivan.

MRO service providers will profit in the long term, as airlines will reduce destocking and resume maintenance activities that had been deferred to cut costs.

Frost & Sullivan’s Asia-Pacific aerospace and defense practice consultant Soumyajyoti Basu said that the region would record comparatively higher growth from all maintenance segments, the bulk of which will be driven by the engine segment.

“This is in part due to long-term demand emanating from major economies in the Asia-Pacific region that are expecting new aircraft deliveries from major OEMs such as Boeing and Airbus,” he said.

The consulting firm anticipates that companies investing in capabilities to serve newer aircraft models, decreasing turnaround time and becoming green will be the ones to drive growth in the coming years.

Frost & Sullivan also predicts that the industry will continue to witness mergers and acquisitions to decrease operating costs, and face competition from original equipment manufacturers as they begin providing MRO activities.

“We don’t expect any cutbacks on the MRO revenue predicted for 2019 which should be around 63 billion dollars,” Basu said.