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Garuda Maintenance Facility Aero Asia, a subsidiary of airline Garuda Indonesia, predicted that profit this year would nearly double to Rp 54 billion ($5.9 million) on the back of more efficient operations and a growing market, a senior company official said on Tuesday.

“Profit may jump from Rp 28 billion last year as we are more cost efficient and foreign exchange rates change,” said Richard Budihadianto, president director of GMFAA.

The company, he said, saw a slight rise in revenue to Rp 1.6 trillion this year from Rp 1.5 trillion in 2010.

Despite a sharp currency softening in the three months to November, during which the rupiah blew out to nearly 9,500 per dollar compared to 8,978 at the start of the year, the rupiah has since strengthened. It reached 9,115 on Tuesday, just 1.5 percent weaker for the year, Bank Indonesia data shows.

Richard said that in January through November, GMFAA booked Rp 1.3 trillion in revenue.

“The market for aircraft maintenance keeps growing as airlines expand their fleets,” he said. “This year alone we estimate that total airline expenses for maintenance in Indonesia will be around $800 million.”

Richard said the challenge in the years to come was to keep up with airlines’ expansion given that the capacities of existing maintenance facilities are limited.

“We estimate that in the next three to five years, the size of the aircraft maintenance market could more than double to $2 billion,” he said. “But to meet that size we need more hangars and especially more mechanics.

He said that GMFAA has allocated $50 million to build a maintenance hangar in Cengkareng, West Jakarta. This would bring the total number of GMFAA hangars to four, all of which are in Cengkareng.

“We are also planning to build a hangar in Makassar, but only if Garuda expands its eastern Indonesia route,” he said.

He also said that the company would need to increase the number of its mechanics if it wanted to keep up with demand.

“Currently we have around 2,000 mechanics, and we may double that figure to match the growing market,” he said.

“But the problem is sourcing these mechanics. It will not be an easy task as it requires five years to educate a mechanic.”

GMFAA was also planning an initial public offering to increase its capital size ,but that option would require a lengthy preparation. “When the time is right we will go public,” he said.