STEngineering’s Aerospace sector has officially opened its new airframe MRO facility in Pensacola, Florida, USA.

The new facility, which can carry out heavy and line maintenance, as well as aircraft modification work, joins two others that ST Engineering has in the USA, located in San Antonio, Texas and Mobile, Alabama, increasing its capacity to serve the North America region and its global clientele.

Located at the Pensacola International Airport, the new hangar has been developed at a cost of $46m US. At 173,500 sq ft, it is one of the largest hangars in ST Engineering’s global network of airframe maintenance facilities. The facility has an annual capacity of 600,000 labour hours, and can accommodate two aircraft of the largest version of the 777 widebody series, or six A321 narrowbody aircraft at any one time.

Governor of Florida Rick Scott said, “Florida’s airports create jobs and welcome millions of visitors each year as our state continues to break tourism records. We are working hard to make sure that every Florida family can get a job. Since December 2010, hardworking businesses have created more than 1.5 million jobs in Florida. We are proud to open this new facility in Pensacola today.”

Ashton J. Hayward, Mayor of the City of Pensacola, said: "It's so great to see this wonderful project come to fruition. We are extremely excited in growing together towards a successful future here in Pensacola. The dream of hundreds of new, sustainable, well-paying jobs in a new industry is becoming a reality."

Mr Lim Serh Ghee, President of ST Engineering’s Aerospace sector, said, “We are thankful for the tremendous support from the State of Florida and Pensacola City governments, which have enabled us to set up the new facility on schedule and commence operations quickly. Pensacola serves as an excellent base for us to serve the MRO needs of the North America region given its rich pool of highly trained engineering and aviation talent. We are pleased to have United Parcel Service as our launch customer at the new facility, and we look forward to welcoming more customers and supporting them with the same high level of quality and on-schedule redeliveries regardless of where our hangar is located, time and again.”

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), carriers in North America will continue to lead in financial performance in 2018, accounting for close to half of the industry’s total profits with a forecasted net profit of $15bn US.

The Aerospace sector of ST Engineering is the world’s largest commercial airframe MRO service provider according to Aviation Week Network’s 2017 biennial ranking, a top position it has held since 2002. It has seven airframe facilities spread out across the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe in total.

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