Abu Dhabi, July 20th, 2010 (WAM) -- Mubadala Aerospace, a business unit of Mubadala Development Company, and Goodrich Corporation (NYSE: GR) today signed a heads of agreement (HOA) to establish a joint venture company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to perform maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work on landing gears.
Completion of the definitive joint venture agreement is anticipated within the next twelve months, with the target of having the Middle Easts first dedicated landing gear facility fully operational by 2012. The HOA was signed during the Farnborough Airshow by Homaid Al Shemmari, Executive Director of Mubadala Aerospace and Mike Brand, President of Goodrich Landing Gear. The signing was also attended by Troy Lambeth, the Chief Executive of Mubadalas recently established spare engine and routable leasing subsidiary, Sanad Aero Solutions (Sanad). Under the terms of the HOA, the joint venture company will provide MRO services and routable support for landing gear on commercial aircraft with its primary focus on customers in the Middle East region. Sanad is expected to play a key role in supporting the joint venture company with routable landing gear assets. The company will initially support both Boeing and Airbus commercial aircraft, including the A380 and B777 models, with plans to extend to other commercial and military markets. The facility will be based in the city of Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, alongside other Mubadala Aerospace companies including Strata, the high-tech composite manufacturing facility and AMMROC, the world-class military MRO centre formed through a joint venture between Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies and Sikorsky. Brand said, "This represents a significant commitment to our customers in the fast-growing Middle East region. By combining the original equipment and MRO expertise of Goodrich with Mubadalas growing aerospace network and routable asset leasing, we can truly provide an improved value to customers in the region." Commenting on the agreement, Al Shemmari said, "This agreement emphasizes the continued development of Mubadala Aerospaces global MRO network. In Goodrich we have a relationship with one of the worlds top aerospace companies that brings their expertise to a new regional hub in the Middle East. The region already has the worlds largest concentration of wide body aircraft and the new facility will deliver much needed landing gear capability for our existing and future customers."Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2010.
