SCLA firm gets airline contract

July 27, 2007
Maintenance agreement with Virgin America, new start-up airline

Jul. 26--V I C T O RV I L L E -- A Vi c t o r v i l l e c o m p a ny h a s snagged a maintenance contract with Virgin America, a new startup airline based out of San Francisco with a fleet of brandnew planes.

"This is a grand opportunity and we're real excited," said Jim Anderson, general manager of Southern California Aviation.

SCLA is expecting the first brand-new Airbus to arrive this morning so that mechanics can begin maintenance work on it.

Airplanes will be coming in at about three to five per month and perhaps ramping up to nine per month, he added.

The airline, affiliated with Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic, is offering low-cost fares and a new approach to air travel between Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.

Anderson said he had been working on the deal for about seven months.

He added that the new business will translate into new jobs for mechanics at the airport, which is already experiencing a shortage of trained airframe and propulsion mechanics.

The aircraft maintenance business at Southern California Logistics Airport has been growing, with a need for about 300 trained employees per year, said the airport's business development director, Jim Worsham.

"Virgin America is the only remaining airline operating out of the great state of California, and for them to get started and put their new aircraft business with us out as at SCLA is a sincere honor," he said. "And we want to do a great job for them."

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