Korea Aviation Engineering & Maintenance Service said Thursday it will begin providing aircraft maintenance for the Boeing 737.

KAEMS, which is a service provider for aircraft maintenance, repair and operations, was jointly launched in July last year by Korea Aerospace Industries, Korea Airports Corporation, BNK Financial Group, Jeju Air and Eastar Jet.

The launch was designed to offer wider options for Korean aircrafts that depend on foreign companies for their maintenance. Korean airlines have so far relied on foreign maintenance due to lack of such service providers here, spending around 1 trillion won ($880 million) per year.

“KAEMS would provide the best MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) quality by reducing turnaround time and being cost-competitive enough for customers to locate MRO in the domestic region,” said Cho Yeon-ki, CEO of KAEMS, on Thursday in an address to commemorate the launch of its first aircraft maintenance.

KAEMS will conduct heavy C Check, which involves inspection of the fuselage, wings, wire harness and cabin, of the Boeing 737 Next Generation operated by Jeju Air. It is expected to return to service on March 4.

The MRO firm also signed a contract Thursday with Eastar Jet to conduct heavy C checks of the Boeing 737 on the same day. The aircraft is scheduled to be delivered to KAEMS on March 19.

The Transportation Ministry plans to form an aircraft maintenance industrial complex centering on KAEMS by 2022, creating 20,000 jobs and 5.4 trillion won inof production inducement effect by 2026.

Starting with C checks of local low-cost carriers, KAEMS is targeting to expand to the global market by gradually expanding its scope to components and engine maintenance.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)