Swiss MRO service provider SR Technics has reached an agreement with Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks to expand its aircraft maintenance facility at Malta International Airport.

The agreement, which follows the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed last year, includes the construction of a modern multi-bay hangar facility for narrow and wide-body aircraft.

Covering an area of 30,000m², including workshop space, the new facility will allow SR Technics to boost its heavy maintenance capacity, C-checks and any cabin modifications or retrofits on up to six narrow-body aircraft simultaneously.

SR Technics CEO Frank Walschot said: “Malta is ideally located to further grow our aircraft maintenance business in the region. The state-of-the-art hangar enables us to continue providing efficient and high-performance maintenance services based on safety, quality and reliability, and to deliver aircraft on schedule.”

“Malta is ideally located to further grow our aircraft maintenance business in the region.”

The new facility, which is expected to create approximately 350 new jobs, will continue to support SR Technics’ strategic operations in Europe and the overall aerospace strategy of its shareholders.

Construction is slated to commence this year, with a scheduled completion date of November next year for the first four bays. Operations will focus on the Airbus A320 family and the Boeing 737NG from the outset.

In order to meet demand while the new hangar is being constructed, SR Technics will incorporate a third bay as of November this year in a temporary hangar next to the existing facility.

Malta Enterprise CEO Mario Galea said: “The MRO industry is truly an important pillar of the Maltese economy offering careers and livelihoods to thousands of families and with SR Technics’ growth in Malta, we expect continued prominence that we are supporting locally based foreign companies while attracting to Malta the right kind of projects for the future.”