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03 December 2002
Speech By Mr Teo Ming Kian, Chairman, Economic Development Board At The MRO Asia Awards Presentation & Dinner On 3 December 2002 At 7.30 P.M., The Oriental Ballroom
Mr. Gregory Hamilton, Publisher - Strategic Media, Aviation Week
Mr. Ed Hazelwood, Editorial Director, Aviation Week Conferences
Dr. Diana Young, President/CEO, Mil-Com Group of Companies
Distinguish guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Good evening
- It is my great pleasure to be with you tonight at the MRO Asia Awards presentation and dinner. To all of you who have come from afar to attend this conference and dinner, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Singapore. Unfortunately, the global economy is still caught in a heavy storm. There is great turbulence in the air. However, I am sure the aviation industry is not simply complying with the instruction to fasten its seat belt and do nothing, but sit through the turbulence.
- I never fail to be amazed by the extreme resilience of the aviation industry, despite the many crises and deep troughs in the industry's business cycle. Many of you continue to meet to share and exchange ideas and create new partnerships and business opportunities at conferences, such as MRO Asia. I believe this is because the aviation industry practitioners take a long term perspective of world developments, more so when the average lifespan of an aircraft is between 30-40 years. I suspect this resilience also comes from the vision that you have in common with the early pioneers of aviation, from da Vinci to the Wright brothers and, up till today, Sikorsky.
- Today, we face challenges, such as the threat of terrorism, safety issues, rising customer expectations and strained air traffic control systems. Nevertheless, in the larger scheme of things, aviation has indeed a long road ahead, given that we have had only about one hundred years of aviation history, compared to thousands of years of maritime history and hundreds of years of railroad history. Each of this has enhanced human interactivity, increased traveling demand and will increasingly make the world even smaller. Taking these time scales and developments into perspective, I believe aviation's finest hour is yet to be.
- Similarly, Singapore has progressed tremendously in our aviation development. From the very first landing strip at Seletar in the 1910s, we have seen our airport move three times before the current location at Changi. With each move, we also grew in scale and sophistication. Today, Singapore is a significant global aviation hub hosting one of the world's busiest and best airports. We also host some of the world's leading aerospace industry players undertaking various manufacturing, design and MRO activities. We will continue to strengthen our conditions as a one-stop global aviation hub to support Asia-Pacific and global aviation growth as well as support companies to move into more sophisticated aftermarket activities, such as asset management and predictive maintenance activities and other diverse needs of the global aviation community.
- The aviation industry in Singapore has performed well last year, with a growth of 25 per cent despite the recession. The industry is expected to do well again this year, despite the not so sunny weather. But like most of you, we are also taking advantage of this turbulent time to build and strengthen our competencies as well as position ourselves to facilitate the growth of your activities in Singapore in the years to come. We are where we are because of the many good companies operating here.
- This evening, we are honouring two very special companies which have won the distinctions of being the Best Asia-Pacific Airline MRO Operation of the Year and the Best Asia-Pacific Independent MRO Operation of the Year. While it is no secret which these companies are, I shall not steal the thunder by mentioning their names.
- My heartiest congratulations to the award-winning companies on their extraordinary feat and let me once again welcome you to Singapore at the start of MRO Asia. Have an enjoyable evening and may I wish you a fruitful conference and exhibition ahead. Thank you.
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