Updated at 6.06pm: Civil aviation authorities of Hong Kong, the mainland and Macau have signed a mutual acceptance arrangement on aircraft maintenance in Beijing, a government spokesman said on Friday. The spokesman said the arrangement was an expansion of a previous one - which only covered aircraft component maintenance. The new arrangement includes entire aircraft maintenance. He said the new arrangement would benefit aircraft maintenance organisations. 'The co-operation arrangement allows the maintenance organisations in Hong Kong, once recognised under the arrangement, to maintain aircraft registered in the mainland and Macau without seeking additional approvals,' the spokesman explained. The spokesman added the airline industry would also benefit from it as 'they can have more choices on maintenance contractors'. 'Through this arrangement, the reduction in duplication of approval and oversight activities maximises the utilisation of resources of both the regulators and the industry,' he said. At present, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department has signed similar arrangements with Singapore and Canada.
