Bombardier has taken full ownership of its Berlin service center
Romain Guillot
 le 12/01/2021 , Maintenance aéronautique
Bombardier is fully gaining a foothold in the maintenance of its business jets at the heart of the EU. The Canadian aircraft manufacturer has just finalized the acquisition of Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services (LBAS), the business aircraft maintenance joint venture founded in 1997 at Berlin-Brandenburg airport (formerly Berlin-Schönefeld).
This joint venture was previously owned by Lufthansa Technik (51%), Bombardier Aerospace (29%) and ExecuJet Aviation Group (20%). The amounts of these two transactions have not been disclosed.
Announced last September by Bombardier, now specializing in business aviation, this acquisition will allow it to further expand its global footprint in customer support by establishing a fully-owned service center in Berlin.
"We welcome the highly talented employees of the Berlin Service Centre to the Bombardier service network," said Chris Debergh, Vice President, OEM Parts and Services, Bombardier. "We value their expertise and customer focus - as part of the Bombardier team, they will continue to provide best-in-class aircraft maintenance services to our valued operators of Bombardier business aircraft."
Bombardier's maintenance center in Berlin has facilities covering an area of over 15,000 square meters. It is the second largest service center for the aircraft manufacturer in Europe. It can work on its entire range of business jets (Global, Challenger and Learjet) and employs 240 highly qualified employees. The facility recently modernized and transformed its shop floor to maximize efficiencies and streamline processes.
For the MRO subsidiary of Lufthansa group, this operation is obviously also timely, while its main activity, the maintenance of commercial aircraft, their engines and components, is severely impacted by the air transport crisis linked to the pandemic, especially on wide-body aircraft.
Lufthansa Technik has also just sold its stake in 3D.aero, a company it had founded in 2017 with Pepperl + Fuchs.
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