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SANTIAGO, Chile—Chile’s first privately owned MRO is on a rapid growth trajectory to double its hangar space and staff by next year.
APAS Chile opened its first 4,000 m2 (approximately 43,000 ft.2) facility at Santiago International Airport in 2022, which initially focused on component repairs and warehousing. The airport granted the company approximately 60,000 ft.2 of ramp parking space soon after. In 2024, this was followed by the construction of a new engine shop and hangar capable of accommodating one widebody or two Airbus A321s simultaneously. In 2025, APAS Chile took over another 8,000 m2 hangar at the airport where it services ATR aircraft, Boeing 737 classics and helicopters for the Chilean Air Force.
In 2026, APAS Chile will complete construction of the first of two widebody hangars to accommodate Boeing 777 aircraft, with the second hangar following in 2027. The company will also extend its ramp space by more than 800,000 ft.2 to accommodate parking for 20 aircraft.
According to Alfredo Asenscio, SVP of business development at APAS Chile, the decision to establish—and rapidly expand—an MRO in Santiago was driven by tight capacity and high demand. He says the business has received around $40 million in private investment.
“We’re fully booked in Chile. We already have more than half of the year completely booked,” he tells Aviation Week. “There’s no space to put an aircraft in for maintenance worldwide. That’s why we decided to do this venture—there was a need, and there was access to the land here, so we said, ‘All right, let’s do it.’”
APAS Chile’s customer base includes Latin American carriers such as Arajet, Amerijet International Airlines, Avianca, Flybondi, JetSmart and Sky Airline. The company offers line maintenance, heavy maintenance up to C checks, engine support, component overhaul, nondestructive testing, ground support equipment, warehousing, Part 147 training and other services.
“The facility we have built is state-of-the-art, and there’s nothing like it in Latin America. We are way ahead of where we envisioned we would be at this time,” Asenscio says. “Our goal is to be the biggest and most efficient MRO facility in Latin America. Our growth in three years has been more than what anyone expected.”
APAS Chile currently holds maintenance approvals from regulators in Chile, Argentina, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the U.S. It is also working to obtain European Union Aviation Safety Agency approval due to interest from Turkish Airlines. “We’re young, we’re the baby in the industry, but people are hearing about us, and Turkish [Airlines] is interested in talking to us, so there’s an international demand that’s beginning to come to us.”
The company has 250 mechanics and other staff, but it expects to grow this to nearly 600 people once its fourth hangar is completed in 2027. While Asenscio notes that Chile has many qualified technicians, the company has also recruited in nearby countries such as Colombia and Peru.
The facility is supported by APAS’s long-standing repair station in Miami, which focuses on airframe, components and landing gear.
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