Hong Kong’s leader has vowed to turn the city into a leading Asian hub for aircraft recycling and parts trading, with a new locally based training centre set to offer four aviation technician courses next year.
The Aircraft Engineering Training Centre was jointly launched on Thursday by the Airport Authority’s Hong Kong International Aviation Academy and French aeronautical services company the Elior Group, a subsidiary of the Derichebourg Group.
Attending the launch ceremony, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the opening of the training centre marked “a major step” towards the city’s ambition of becoming Asia’s leading aircraft recycling and parts-trading centre.
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“Together [with Elior], we have what we need to build a flourishing regional service supply chain, one that captures the full aviation life cycle,” Lee said.
“This will create jobs. They will be high-value jobs, better-paid and high-skill jobs.”
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The event was Lee’s first major public appearance in Hong Kong after his three-day annual duty visit to Beijing, which included a closed-door meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and two other members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China – the leadership’s highest decision-making body.
Elior Group Chairman and CEO Daniel Derichebourg said that rapid growth in aviation services meant that the global demand for aeronautical services had soared.