German regional aircraft MRO specialist Rheinland Air Service has added a new hangar at its subsidiary in Windhoek and plans to expand the site by 2018.
A year ago, Monchengladbach-based RAS acquired Aviation Centre, a general aviation maintenance facility in the Namibian capital. Aviation Centre was specialised in the support of Cessna 206 and Caravan aircraft for safari flight operators.
RAS – an authorised ATR aftermarket partner – has since built a single-bay hangar to establish the site as a base maintenance facility for the turboprop family plus Embraer ERJ-135/145 regional jets, targeting operators the sub-Saharan region.
The investment in Africa was initiated by ATR. In 2009, the manufacturer approached RAS about the possibility of setting up an maintenance facility in India, but the MRO provider rejected that project due to concerns over bureaucracy, corruption and business viability in the Asian country, says chief executive Johannes von Schaesberg. ATR then suggested setting up a facility in Africa.
The current hangar is a lightweight tent structure with a tension-membrane cover. But plans are in place to build a larger, more solid facility similar to RAS's 4,000m² (43,000ft²) hangar in Monchengladbach, where six ATR turboprops can be accommodated. A decision about that expansion should be made over the next three years, with the operational start scheduled for 2018, says von Schaesberg.
The existing one-bay hangar could accommodate 10-15 heavy checks a year, but this would depend on training of additional technicians. Around a third of Aviation Centre's approximately 35-strong workforce could be qualified to become certified maintenance technicians, says von Schaesberg. But the hangar would need 15-20 staff members to fully utilise the capacity.
RAS's workforce at its home base comprises around 175 employees, out of whom 130 are working on commercial customers. Some 20 staff members support business and general aviation aircraft, with the remainder working in the back office.
The objective is to set up Aviation Centre as an independent maintenance provider for ATRs and Embraer regional jets in Africa, says von Schaesberg. Aside from the in-house MRO division of South African ERJ operator Airlink, there is no EASA-certified repair station for Embraer aircraft on the continent, he says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
