Newly-created Dornier 328 maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider 328 Support Services has firmed up its plans during its first month of operation.
Corporate Jet Service, the parent of UK executive jet operator Club 328, acquired the design rights to the defunct line late last year in order to support its own fleet of corporate 328 turboprops and 328Jets. The Southampton-based company will retain former owner AvCraft Aerospace's managing director Wolfgang Walter to head the new German subsidiary. Walter will lead a team of around 100 engineers at the former Fairchild Dornier site in Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich.
Corporate Jet Service says employees have been offered new contracts with the new company, which was released from bankruptcy administration by lawyers Pluta at the end of last year.
The new company will also look into the development of a new Dornier 328 maintenance organisation to complement Jet Engineering Technical Support at Southampton airport. The new company will complete the final two 328Jets before closing the production line and concentrating on maintenance. There will also be an effort to return stored 328s to service, the company adds.
Mike Farge, Corporate Jet Services chief executive, says: “With [Walter's] extensive experience from the Dornier days in engineering, liaising with customers and suppliers, coupled with my own background in engineering, we are going to build a European centre of excellence for product support.”
Source: Flight International
