South Korea will consign military aircraft repair to the private sector and lower duties for related imports to raise self-sufficiency rate in aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) to 70 percent and enlarge the market by more than seven times by 2025.

The MRO promotion programs announced at the 43rd Emergency Economic Central Countermeasure Headquarters Meeting held on Thursday include a reduction in airport charges on airplanes coming in and out to use domestic MRO services, more opening of the military MRO market to private companies, and support for the supply chain and manpower.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the policy aims to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign contractors in the MRO industry from 56 percent last year to 30 percent in 2025, while growing local businesses and expanding the domestic market by more than seven times to match the country’s position as the world’s seventh largest air transportation player.

Under the action plans, the government will incentivize aircraft operators to use domestic MRO services by reducing their airport charges on arrivals and departures. It will also gradually open the military MRO market to the private sector, while supporting localization of military aircraft parts that need MRO services outside Korea. The government projects local MRO services in the private sector will grow from 350 billion won ($300 million) last year to 510 billion won next year under these steps.

The government will also seek ways to ease the burden of tariffs on aircraft parts to strengthen the price competitiveness of the local MRO industry. To ease the tariff burden on Korean companies that import parts for maintenance from overseas, the government decided to grant temporary tariff exemption on parts re-imported after repair and remodeling from Singapore, Korea’s major trading partner in the aircraft MRO sector.

In addition, the government will provide a growth basis for the local MRO industry by supporting technology development for advanced maintenance, establishing region-specialized MRO clusters, and nurturing human resources.

If these measures are all implemented as planned, the domestic MRO handlings will be able to grow from 700 billion won last year to 5 trillion won in 2030, according to the land ministry. The number of jobs in the domestic MRO market is projected to increase from 7,000 to 23,000 over the cited period.