AMAC Aerospace AG has recently broken ground on a fourth new hangar at its Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, Switzerland facilities.

Representing a significant investment, the new hangar, which on completion will be similar in size to the two existing wide-bodied aircraft facilities and provide AMAC with a total of 38,100 square meters of hangar floor space, will meet the demands for widebody maintenance of the company’s client base.

Bernd Schramm, Group Chief Operating Officer for AMAC, anticipates that when the fourth hangar is completed in the fourth quarter of 2015 it will be utilised for predominantly wide-bodied maintenance work.

“We expect to see the ratio of Refurbishment/Completion and MRO projects shift from a 70:30 split, to 60:40, as the new building will increase our capacity for maintenance. We see a lot of opportunity in the narrow and wide-body maintenance sector and as this has rapidly become an area of expertise for AMAC we will be focusing more on this segment.”

AMAC has to date delivered 10 major VVIP completion, refurbishment and modification projects. These include an Airbus A320; four Airbus ACJ319s, a Boeing 777-200LR and a Boeing 777-300ER, a Boeing BBJ2, an Airbus A340 and a Global Express. Currently in the hangar for VVIP completions are a Boeing 747-8i scheduled for delivery to a Middle East customer in the first quarter of 2015 and an Airbus ACJ319 for its first Asian customer, to be delivered in the second quarter of the New Year. Another green B777-200 VVIP completion project for a Head of State client is scheduled to arrive on 12 December 2014.

Global Express with AMAC Aerospace interior

The company is also bolstering its in-house design offering and showcased a Global Express featuring an interior refurbishment project wholly designed by its professional in-house design team on the static during MEBA this week.

The interior involved a high degree of precision engineering, attention to detail and quality workmanship to create a contemporary feel using warm greys and a stylised red accent stripe, whilst the exterior livery was painted with a customized scheme which reflected the interior’s modern red accent stripe.

Demonstrating the company’s successful growth it is recruiting an average of two engineers and 5–6 production specialists per month, according to Schramm, noting the workforce has grown from 552 in 2012 to a team of 672 to date this year.

“We have been lucky in being able to attract skilled specialist workers from the northern part of Switzerland, the southern part of Germany and the French Alsace region, especially with interiors and upholstery specialists who previously worked in the automobile industry - with the likes of Peugeot and Citroën.”

Complementing the mainstay activity in Europe, AMAC Aerospace Turkey’s three-storey sales and service centre at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul is focused on developing its maintenance offering having received Authorized Dassault Service Center status to work on Dassault Falcon 900/900EX EASy and Falcon 2000/2000EX EASy models.

“We will be adding the Falcon 7X type in 2015 Q1 and our aim is to establish an MRO serving all Falcon types including C checks. We will also continue to look at adding other aircraft types to our capability list. Our FAA FAR-145 approval process is continuing and we plan to get it in 2015 Q1 also,” said Atilla Güney, COO of AMAC Aerospace Turkey.

“AMAC is currently providing maintenance services to all Turkish registered F900s and F2000s and Middle Eastern customers are making the most of the Turkish location owing to the time saving and cost effective solutions afforded by not flying aircraft to Western Europe for maintenance,” he added.

New BBJ reconfiguration project plus additional A320-200 completion

In further news, AMAC has announced the signing of a new cabin reconfiguration contract for a Boeing Business Jet with an undisclosed Middle Eastern customer.

The cabin reconfiguration will convert the major compartment of the cabin into a VIP Lounge with a separate club seating area. New side ledges will be manufactured and installed on each side. Electrical high-low tables will be installed on each side of the cabin. New coffee tables will be installed in the rear section of the aircraft. In addition, new breathable divans will add more sleeping positions to the aircraft cabin. AMAC Aerospace will provide the interior design package.

The company has also added a further A320-200 completion to its portfolio of nose-to-tail completion projects.

The aircraft, which is currently operated in an airliner configuration, will be converted into a VVIP Business Jet. For the nose-to-tail completion only the most exclusive materials will be harmoniously combined to meet VVIP style standards. Upon completion, the cabin will offer all VVIP amenities such as a master bedroom, master lavatory with shower, a latest state-of-the-art In flight Entertainment System which will include Audio and Video on Demand (AVOD) and wireless streaming to passengers handheld portable devices. AMAC Aerospace will further contribute its profound design and engineering expertise by supporting the designer during the design definition process of the VVIP Cabin.