Jakarta. Indonesia is hoping to land aircraft maintenance contracts with Latin American clients as Jakarta is about to send its aerospace giant PTDI to São Paulo for a business gathering. 

Representatives from the state-run PTDI will soon jet off to the Brazilian city for the Indonesia-Latin America and the Caribbean (INA-LAC) business forum on September 22-23. 

PTDI -- short for PT Dirgantara Indonesia -- will be seeking some deals related to maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). The company wants to maintain the C-212s -- and other aircraft designed by Spain’s already-defunct planemaker CASA -- that had been operating in the Latin American and Caribbean nations. The C-212 Aviocar is a medium cargo aircraft designed for both civil and military operators.

“Many aircraft produced by CASA, be it the C-212 or other models, are present here [in Latin America and the Caribbean]. However, CASA no longer does the maintenance work, and this is something that PTDI can do,” Epiphania Riris Wusananingdyah, a director at the Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday. 

The envoy claimed that Indonesian diplomatic missions had already facilitated meetings with the air forces of Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Suriname.

“They need those planes. This is an incredibly large opportunity. If we can tap into the [MRO market], it would cement our footprint in the international aerospace industry,” Epiphania said.

PTDI is expected to mainly focus on MRO-related contracts at the São Paulo forum, despite having produced aircraft of its own. Its product portfolio includes the CN-235 multi-purpose aircraft which have made their way to both domestic and foreign markets. PTDI also co-designed the CN-235 with CASA back when the former was known as the Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN). 

Founded in 1923, CASA has faced some major changes over the years. The company ceased operations in 1999, and eventually became part of the EADS. In 2009, EADS CASA was absorbed into Airbus Military, which is now part of the Airbus Defense and Space.

An article by the aviation news agency AIN Media Group published in 2013 wrote that Airbus Military had transferred the C-212 light transport production to Indonesia. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy also boasted the largest population of the C-212s, which IPTN assembled under license in Bandung between the 1970s and 1980s. 

PTDI produces the NC212i -- a more advanced version of the C-212.

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