Rendering of Lufthansa Technik Portugal site
Lufthansa Technik took a big step to expand its repair capacity when it broke ground for its new 55,000 m2 (180,446 ft.2) aircraft and engine component maintenance facility in Portugal on June 29. The company expects the new facility to open in the summer of 2028.
The move is part of the large MRO’s global footprint expansion.
Lufthansa Technik Portugal was founded in 2024 and has been operating in a three-building interim facility at the PERM business park in Santa Maria da Feira, near Porto, since last year.
Its new facility, about 9 km (6 mi.) away in the Lusopark industrial area of Santa Maria da Feira, achieved its European Union Aviation Safety Agency Part 145 maintenance certification earlier this year, which allowed it to switch from just training to certified maintenance work. Its first maintenance approval is for coffee makers. However, it expects to receive additional component repair approvals in upcoming months. It has not yet disclosed what those will be.
The temporary Lufthansa Technik Portugal facility includes an educational center for theoretical and practical training. Students also attend some training at the MRO’s Hamburg base.
About 100 employees work for Lufthansa Technik Portugal so far and it is “preparing to hire an additional 200” in the near future—with a goal of 700 after the new facility is operational.
Lufthansa Technik plans to invest “three-digit-million euros” in the facility, of which “€223 million [$254 million] is eligible for funding under an agreement signed with AICEP [Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal], which translates to Lufthansa Technik receiving €24.75 million in economic development funds from AICEP.
The MRO named Torsten Raabe managing director of Lufthansa Technik Portugal in April. He has held various leadership positions across the group, including most recently senior director, MRO services, material and subcontracts at Lufthansa Technik Component Services.
Lufthansa Technik also is building an engine MRO in Calgary, Canada, announced in June, and plans to open a second base maintenance facility in the Philippines. It also opened a new component services facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in March.
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