In October 2022, the Future Economy Council (FEC) announced the refreshed Aerospace Industry Transformation Map (ITM) 2025, which underscored the Singapore government’s continued commitment to support and grow this industry. Our plan aims to achieve S$4.6 billion in Value-Added (VA) by 2025, a 15% increase over the ITM 2020 target, and restore total employment to pre-pandemic levels by adding 3,000 jobs.
The global aerospace industry faced significant challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Singapore was no exception. During those challenging times, the government provided strong support for the industry to preserve capabilities and a base of skilled talent. Partners like The Association of Aerospace Industries (Singapore) (AAIS) played a critical role in supporting our companies and provided valuable feedback to shape the government’s response.
As global air traffic recovers and the aerospace industry turns a corner, these efforts have allowed the industry to bounce back quickly. From January to October 2022, production levels in our aerospace industry increased by 27.8% year-on-year. Industry players are also looking to fill about 3,000 new roles by the end of 2023 to capture new growth opportunities.
Going forward, we will continue to partner leading aerospace companies to build capacity and capability for manufacturing and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) to capture growth opportunities. To ensure our aerospace companies remain competitive and their capabilities are best-in-class, we will drive the transformation of their Singapore operations through technology, as well as forge partnerships with local Small and Medium Enterprises to develop new manufacturing and MRO technologies.
We also recognise the increasing scrutiny over the environmental impact by aerospace, and we will work with like-minded partners to pre-position Singapore for this shift towards sustainability. With this in mind, we are keen to build up an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) ecosystem in Singapore, which will be an important entry point for new sustainability-related technologies like electrification. We will work to develop enabling infrastructure and regulatory frameworks for companies to trial, develop, and commercialise AAM technologies in Singapore.
We have weathered the downturn and the outlook for the aerospace industry is bright. Together with AAIS and industry players, we look forward to seizing the opportunities ahead.