AAR Looks To India
AAR announced plans to partner with Indamer Aviation to build an narrowbody airframe maintenance in Nagpur. The facility will commence operation in autumn 2018 with six narrowbody bays, including a painting bay. Over time, AAR and Indamer envision expanding this to 16 bays along with the addition of component repair shops.
Avocet Adds A Second Florida Hangar
Avocet Aviation Services added a second facility at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Florida last February. The 26,000 sq. ft. facility will mirror existing services carried out at Avocet’s headquarters at Orlando Sanford International Airport including A checks, engine services, heavy maintenance and line maintenance.
HAECO Americas’ Fifth Hangar Opens
HAECO Americas opened its fifth and largest hangar in Greensboro, North Carolina in April. The 250,000 sq. ft. facility will have capacity for a configuration of eight narrowbodies or two widebodies and two narrowbodies. Costing around $60 million, HAECO Americas says the facility is around twice as big as every one of its four hangars – all located at its Greensboro headquarters.
Southwest Adds MRO Capacity
Airlines are also expanding their capacity requirements. In January 2018, Southwest Airlines confirmed it planned to build a new maintenance facility at Houston Hobby airport. The new 240,000sq-ft hangar will have capacity for six Boeing 737 aircraft. Once completed by late 2019, the airline will operate six MRO facilities across the U.S.
Service Providers Add Paint Facilities
Paint services are becoming increasingly factored into the offerings of aftermarket providers. Two notable hangar additions in the past year are from Magnetic MRO, which opened a purpose-built 2,853 sq. ft. paint hangar in November 2017 in Tallinn, Estonia to service narrowbody aircraft types. Sabena Technics also announced a new paint hangar in January 2018 for Airbus widebody aircraft at Toulouse Blagnac Airport, scheduled for a late-2019 opening.
