The bonded maintenance services for airplane engines will be triggered in Sichuan Pilot Free Trade Area. On April 17, a media briefing hosted by Chengdu Customs District of the People’s Republic of China disclosed that the aero-engine bonded maintenance project of Sichuan International Aero-engine Maintenance Co., Ltd., a joint venture invested by Air China and Snecma, has been promoted smoothly, and is projected to be put into services in 2017.

　　The project base is located in Shuangliu Park of Chengdu High-tech Comprehensive Bonded Zone, Tianfu New Area of Chengdu Pilot FTA. The number of aero-engines under maintenance in the following three years is expected to reach 160, costing 480 million dollars.

　　The Ministry of Commerce has approved the operation of cross-border bonded maintenance services for CFM56 aero-engines in the park, before which, foreign aero-engines had to be carried to Hong Kong for relevant procedures before they were sent to the site for repairing. It took several months to repair each engine with logistics cost increase of 250,000 yuan. After the implementation of bonded maintenance services, it will both ease the financial burdens and save the time for enterprises to repair the engines within the park.

　　Founded in September, 2015, the Aero-Engine Bonded Maintenance Base (first phase) of Sichuan International Aero-engine Maintenance Co., Ltd. is the first aero-engine bonded maintenance base in Sichuan. After the construction, the annual number of engines under maintenance will rise to 600, making the base the largest and the most competitive one in Asia.

　　Chengdu Customs will establish special accounts for enterprises, upgrade the existing supervision models, lower the operating costs for enterprises, support the maintenance services, and strengthen the competitiveness of Sichuan’s aero-engine maintenance services in the international market.

　　The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China has issued 35 measures to propel the development of the 7 newly-set Pilot Free Trade Areas including support the aviation industry in Sichuan.