As part of its efforts to boost limited MRO capacity in Western Europe, Sabena Technics has unveiled its sixth maintenance facility in Bordeaux and has commenced work with its first airline customer at the hangar.

The 108,000 square feet hangar close to Bordeaux Merignac took around 15 months to build with construction beginning back in August 2018. Sabena Technics’ new hangar at its Bordeaux site follows the addition of a fourth paint facility in Toulouse in late 2019. 

With capabilities for base maintenance and modifications work, the Bordeaux hangar holds capacity for one widebody aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 777-9X or Airbus A350-1000, three military aircraft such as the A400M simultaneously and six narrowbody aircraft.

Irish carrier Aer Lingus sent one of its Airbus A330-200 aircraft into the new hangar on Jan.6 for a C check, with the process expected to take around three weeks to complete.

Over the next year, the facility has maintenance commitments until March 2021, while agreements are in place for modifications work up to 2022. Once running at full capacity, Sabena Technics estimates the facility will generate 200,000 additional hours of production annually.

The company has invested around €25 million ($27.7 million) in the new facility, with the financial outlay covering the construction along with tooling and equipment, Sabena Technics’ CEO Philippe Rochet told Aviation Week.

Sabena Technics estimates its percentage of commercial and military work is a 50-50 split across the company’s aftermarket network, which consists of 15 sites worldwide. 

Of its 3,000 employees, around 1,000 of them are based in Bordeaux. Rochet says the company is looking to add around 250 new employees in France this year, with around 150 staff expected to be added in Bordeaux by the end of 2020.

The addition of new capacity follows a change in ownership at the company. In summer 2019, TAT Group offloaded its majority stake to an investment consortium comprised of three entities: French investment bank Bpifrance, Sagard, the Paris-based private equity arm of Power Corporation of Canada and British-U.S. investment company TowerBrook.