AMAC Aerospace makes even more of a mark on the worldwide MRO and VVIP completion stage |
| Romain Guillot in Geneva |
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06 JUN 2018 | 585 words
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AMAC Aerospace's newest hangar in Bodrum-Milas Airport. Picture © AMAC Aerospace |
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Switzerland's AMAC Aerospace group is becoming a leading player in VVIP aircraft completion. But the group is about much more than that, as its management was able to highlight at the EBACE show. In just 10 years AMAC has already expanded over 4 countries and 6 locations and its development is showing no signs of slowing down.
Its cornerstone, the facility at Basel-Mulhouse EuroAirport, is already considered as the largest VVIP aircraft completion centre in the world for an independent actor. Amac Aerospace has four huge hangars there with a total floor space of 91 000m2 and is able to accommodate all types of aircraft, up to Airbus A380s / Boeing 747-8Is.
Kadri Muhiddin, the group's CEO, didn't need to be asked twice to announce at EBACE that a fifth hangar will soon be constructed to respond to demand which is rising significantly. It must be said that the number of projects for wide-body VVIP aircrafts has become one of AMAC's major activities since it delivered its first 777 in 2013.
The Basel facilities worked on 8 major VVIP completion or refurbishment projects, just for wide-body
aircraft alone (A330, A340, 777, 747-8). The most recent project was for a Boeing 777-200LR which took around twenty months and was completed last year. Even better, Kadri Muhiddin revealed that a second green 747-8I would be completed within two years, an aircraft which is intended for a Head of State. This is a first for one of the few actors who is able to operate on this type of aircraft. The 747-8I arrived in Basel at the start of the year.
One other important announcement came from Airbus during the last European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva: Airbus Corporate Jets has selected AMAC Aerospace's Basel centre as one of the three actors approved for the ACJ350 XWB completion. AMAC is already responsible for the completion of the first ACJ320neo, with the aircraft intended for UK's Acropolis (the aircraft will be entering the final assembly line this summer) and it is clear that AMAC is already in line to work on the first VVIP A350.
Kadri Muhiddin also revealed that they are interested in the completion of BBJ MAX family aircraft with discussions already on-going with five customers.
One other significant development for AMAC Aerospace over these last few months has been the opening of an MRO facility at Bodrum-Milas airport in Turkey. The new installation, which includes a 4 626 m2 hangar, is fully operational and can work on all Airbus single-aisle aircraft, on all Boeing 737 (except 737 MAX) families and on the 777 family. Turkish charter airline Tailwind Airlines is already using the facility for its 737-400 fleet, a first aircraft completed a C-check at the start of the year.
The Bodrum facility represents the airport's only MRO activity and its business model is based on two pillars: proposing line and base maintenance for commercial aircraft during the winter season and proposing private aircraft handling, AOG support and parking for business aircraft for the rest of the year. AMAC Aerospace's management is not hiding the strategic position of its new Bodrum facility and they want to attract customers from the Middle East.
Finally, AMAC Aerospace also looked back at the acquisition of JCB Aero in France in May 2016. The Auch-based company specialized in luxury design and installation of civil and VIP aircraft interiors is continuing its growth, with the recruitment of 32 people into its teams.
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Romain Guillot
Chief editor
Cofounder of Journal de l'Aviation and Alertavia
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