LTP leases more land at Clark for MRO operations

Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP), the country’s biggest aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider, is leasing more land in Clark to expand upcoming operations that complement service operations at its 26-year-old facility in Manila.

MacroAsia Corp., which owns 49 percent of LTP, said the MRO signed a lease agreement for a plot located within the Clark International Airport.

With the Clark property lease expansion, MacroAsia expects to boost LTP’s aircraft maintenance support services outside its base in Manila. LTP is scheduled to retire its line maintenance service in Manila starting Aug. 1.

Clark is one of LTP’s bases where it offers line maintenance, together with Cebu, Davao and Kalibo. Airlines require line maintenance to support the day-to-day flights of their aircraft, as this service involves quick checks required for airworthiness.

What LTP is keeping in its Manila headquarters is base maintenance, which covers heavy repairs that demand more personnel and time to complete.

LTP is pulling out line maintenance in Manila following the decision of its long-time client Philippine Airlines to strengthen in-house capabilities.

However, LTP’s decision to end line maintenance will result in the loss of hundreds of jobs, and will trim its current employee count of almost 3,200.

Recently, LTP signed a new lease for its 226,000-square meter facility at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) complex. The signing ended almost a year of uncertainty of whether LTP is leaving Manila to look for a cheaper lease.

The New NAIA Infrastructure Corp., NAIA’s private operators, are charging locators inside the airport complex a monthly lease of P710 per sqm. LTP will have to pay as much as P160 million a month for its lease, far from its previous rate of P14 million.

In Clark, LTP can lean on a gateway gradually returning to pre-pandemic volume, with the Clark International Airport receiving 2.75 million passengers in 2025.

Clark is host to two other large-scale MRO facilities – Singapore’s SIA Engineering Co. and Hong Kong’s Metrojet Engineering Ltd.