JUSTIN WASTNAGE / ZURICH
Swiss business aviation services company Jet Aviation is set to expand its Zurich maintenance facility as part of plans to cater for the Cessna Citation Sovereign and Raytheon Hawker Horizon. Jet Aviation met the airport operator Unique last week to request expansion of its current 2,000m2 (22,204ft2) hangar by 1,700m2 to accommodate the larger jets.
Werner Aerne, Jet Aviation senior vice-president for maintenance, says he expects approval within the month leading to completion of the facility before the end of the year. Jet Aviation also leases a 1,200m2 hangar from the airport opposite its main hangar: this will remain unchanged.
Zurich is the Jet Aviation dedicated maintenance, repair and overhaul centre for Cessna and Raytheon types in Europe and the facility has been close to capacity for several years, with work outsourced to Jet Aviation's German sites in Cologne and Düsseldorf, says Aerne.
The company carries out maintenance on airliner-class business jets at its Basle facility, but was keen to keep heavy checks for the entire Raytheon and Cessna jet ranges, including the two new mid-size jets, in Zurich, says Aerne. Cessna expects full type certification of the Sovereign by May and Aerne says the first European aircraft will arrive in Zurich by the second half of this year. Raytheon's Hawker Horizon super mid-sized business jet is also scheduled for a service entry by the end of this year and Aerne says engineers have started training on both types.
Jet Aviation is also likely to use the additional space to carry out line maintenance on many of the larger Gulfstream aircraft that pass through the Zurich fixed-base operation, which are currently flown to Geneva.
Jet Aviation is also in negotiations with Swiss turboprop manufacturer Pilatus to become an authorised service centre for the PC-12 single-engined turboprop.
Source: Flight International
