Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT) announced it has received approval by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) to perform maintenance and customization on Bell 206 series, Bell 407 series and Bell 429 aircraft under the certification of the Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA).

“The CAAS approval offers enhanced service offerings to our customers and strengthens our presence in the region,” said Michael T. Reagan, director, Global Services at Bell Helicopter. “With this qualification we can now perform customization work on all in-production Bell Helicopter aircraft using this bilateral agreement with Transport Canada.”

The approval under the existing Technical Arrangement between the TCCA and CAAS allows the Bell Helicopter Service Center in Singapore to complete the following repair, modification and customization on aircraft that are TCCA certified:

• Scheduled or unscheduled maintenance
• Inspections, repair or recertification
• Component replacement
• Incorporating Airworthiness Directives (ADs), Service Bulletins (SBs) or Technical Bulletins (TBs)
• Incorporating Supplementary Type Certificates (STCs) or Servicing Instructions (Sis)
• Helicopter re-assembly or disassembly

“We are focused on providing a regional OEM support option to our customers to have their aircraft customized, delivered and subsequently serviced,” continued Reagan. “We will continue to work with local and regional authorities to expand our service capabilities now and throughout 2014.”

With this most recent approval, the Bell Helicopter Service Center in Singapore is now authorized to perform inspection, testing, repair and modification for current production Bell Helicopter aircraft under the regulatory authorities of Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Editor note – see also Bell and Cessna open AsiaPac Service Facility in Singapore