Capacities for overhaul and maintenance of Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 will be launched in Bulgaria this autumn. The first airplane of Lufthansa will enter the repair shop in October. Lufthansa Technik - the world market leader in the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of commercial aircraft - holds an eighty-percent stake in the joint venture and the Bulgarian Aviation Group, owned by Chimimport holds a twenty-percent stake. The company is going to invest over eighteen million euro in the modernization of the overhaul and maintenance facilities at Sofia Airports Hangar 3, and another five million euro in the training of the specialists that will take care of the aircraft repair and maintenance. A hundred and fifty people have already been hired and they have passed training courses in Bulgaria. Three hundred and fifty engineers will be employed at the MRO center by 2010, said Dr. Andreas Heizner, Senior Vice President of Lufthansa Technik. Yesterday, Dr. Heizner was given a Class A Investor Certificate by Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy Anna Yaneva. The MRO center will spread over twelve thousand sqm. Boeing Next-Generation 737 and Boeing Classic 737 and the whole family of Airbus A 320 will be repaired in Sofia.
Source: Standart (18.04.2008)