TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The aerospace industry in Taiwan is expected to thrive over the next decade as the world’s air transportation market shifts to the Asia Pacific.

Taiwan’s aerospace sector is growing at 8 percent annually, outperforming the global average of 4 percent, said Moudy Hu (胡開宏), chairman of the Taiwan Aerospace Industry Association and the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation. He said that the country should seize the opportunity to secure a place in the US$15 trillion market for the next 20 years.

With the business of low-cost carriers booming across Asia, Taiwan is well-positioned to become an aircraft maintenance hub in the region. Local companies providing aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services, including Air Asia Company and Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp, have profited from the surging demand from expanded fleets, brisk business at budget airlines, and aircraft replacement needs, wrote CommonWealth Magazine.

According to the report, the aviation boom has also been reflected in the rising need for MRO talent. National Formosa University’s Department of Aeronautical Engineering, for instance, is seeing its students offered job opportunities by industry players even before they graduate.

Taiwan is also experiencing a revival of research and development in its aerospace industry three decades after the country introduced its own Indigenous Defense Fighter jets. This is propelled in part by the program the country launched in 2017 to build indigenous jet trainers, reported CommonWealth Magazine.