An expansion by wheels and brakes specialist TP Aerospace into a new 108,000 sq.ft facility in the Czech Republic aims to alleviate repair capacity shortages across its network of shops.
Once open from March, the maintenance shop and warehouse will have an expected annual capacity of around 15,000 repairs and overhauls and will look to work with customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
TP Aerospace announced earlier this week that the facility had commenced operations with a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part-145 approval following a final audit conducted by Germany’s Luftfahrt-Bundesamt aviation authority at the end of last year. In total, the process took less than one month to complete.
Following the signing of an agreement to open a new facility in Brno in October 2022, TP Aerospace says construction of the facility took around 15 months.
The Denmark-headquartered company says following an in-depth site selection process, it opted for the site in the city of Brno, located in the southeast region of the country. Reasons for doing include the location’s market proximity, access to a skilled workforce and the simplicity of doing business in the Czech Republic, a joint response issued by TP Aerospace CEO Nikolaj Jacobsen and COO Felix Ammann said.
“We will start with overflow work from our current facilities and will soon add additional work,” they said, adding that it will offer long-term support for TP Aerospace’s three divisions--programs, components and distribution--from the Brno site. Over time, TP Aerospace says there is space at the site to develop capacity and become the biggest wheels and brakes repair and overhaul center in its global network of shops.
In Europe, the Brno facility will operate alongside the company’s main base in Copenhagen and two warehouse locations in Derby, UK and Norderstedt, Germany.
Further afield, the company operates two MRO shops in the U.S. in Orlando and Las Vegas and has a physical presence in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Australia, where it operates in Melbourne but has plans to open a new facility in Brisbane later this year.