Homegrown Aeronas puts Johor in race to build Asia's light aircraft

JOHOR BARU: Johor is positioning itself for a bigger slice of the global aerospace industry, with home-grown aircraft manufacturer Aeronas Aerocraft Sdn Bhd looking to turn the state into a regional base for light-aircraft manufacturing, engineering and related services.

The push has gained commercial traction, with Aeronas securing a RM357 million (US$85 million) order for 50 light aircraft from Hong Kong-based consortium.

This marks a significant step for a Malaysian company seeking to move beyond aerospace components and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) into complete aircraft manufacturing.

Johor investment, trade, consumer affairs and human resources committee chairman Lee Ting Han said the development showed the potential for aerospace to become a high-value industry capable of contributing to Johor's economic growth.

During a recent visit to Aeronas Aerocraft, Lee said he had seen first-hand the company's progress and its efforts to expand its operations and aerospace ecosystem in Johor.

"What caught my attention was the huge potential of this sector to become one of the high-value industries capable of contributing to Johor's economic growth," he said.

He said Johor's strategy was not merely to attract investment, but to ensure that investment translated into skilled jobs and stronger local expertise.

"We want to attract investment, and also ensure that such investments create high-skilled employment opportunities and build the expertise of Johoreans," he said.

Lee said Johor had room to emerge as an important aerospace hub in the region as the industry expanded.

The opportunity comes as Aeronas builds its footprint in Iskandar Puteri, while working towards further expansion of its production capacity.

The company currently operates a semi-production facility where work is focused on refurbishing its first aircraft ahead of its maiden test flight.

The facility capable of producing up to 30 aircraft a year.

Aeronas Aerocraft managing director cum chief executive officer Raja Shazreen Petra Raja Azman Shah Petra said a planned full-scale manufacturing facility is expected to raise capacity to 60 aircraft a year for each production line.

That localisation target is important to Johor's broader industrial ambitions because aircraft manufacturing has a much wider economic footprint than final assembly alone.

Raja Shazreen said the expansion could generate business for local companies involved in engineering, aircraft components, logistics, maintenance and other aviation support services.

At full production, the wider aerospace value chain could generate up to 20,000 jobs, including about 450 high-skilled direct positions and an estimated 3,000 additional jobs in logistics, support services and related industries.

She added the high-skilled positions were currently led by Malaysian talent, including its electrical and structural engineering and avionics and components engineering teams.