Swiss maintenance and interiors specialist AMAC is set to complete a successful year as it prepares to open a fourth hangar at its main facility in Basel, Switzerland, and expand its operation in Turkey.
The company, which has a chalet at MEBA, will receive its latest widebody, a "green" Boeing 777, next week. The completion, for an African head of state, is expected to take 18 months. It comes as AMAC gets ready to hand over a completed Boeing 747-8I.
The Middle East remains a major market for AMAC's high-end MRO and completions business, which is focused on Airbus and Boeing narrowbody and widebody VVIP jets, says group executive chairman Kadri Muhiddin. "Our biggest challenge, to be honest, is availability of slots. We are taking business now for 2016 and 2017," he says.
The fourth hangar - the third capable of handling an Airbus A380 or 747 - is due to be finished in the third quarter and will be dedicated largely to widebody maintenance. AMAC will need to recruit 150 more staff to its workforce of 700 to cope with the extra work, says Muhiddin. AMAC's Basel complex is next door to that of one of its main rivals, Jet Aviation.
AMAC also has a 1,500m² hangar at Istanbul's Ataturk International, used largely for Dassault Falcon maintenance. The company is looking to open a line maintenance facility at Bodrum, a popular business aviation destination, says Muhiddin.
He attributes AMAC's success to his staff. "We owe it to the people on the shop floor," he says. "Also, our young management team, who take direct approaches to solving problems."
Source: Flight Daily News
