TAMPA, FL (January 13, 2014) – PEMCO World Air Services (PEMCO) is proud to announce a new Boeing 737 freighter conversion partnership with COOPESA (Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Aeroindustriales R.L.) in San Jose, Costa Rica.
PEMCO’s expansion into Central America provides additional freighter conversion capacity to meet extraordinary demand for PEMCO’s market-leading B737-300 & -400 freighters – the world’s only 737 freighter designed, built, certified and supported utilizing Boeing design data to ensure the reliability and effectiveness of the cargo modification.
COOPESA’s technical expertise and competitive financials, combined with its great location and culture make PEMCO’s newest passenger-to-freighter conversion operation a compelling option, particularly for Latin American markets.
The first PTF project in PEMCO’s Costa Rica operation was a 737-400 11-position high yield freighter. The project included a heavy C-check, extensive structures and avionics upgrades, and full paint - all performed conveniently at one location. Redelivery is scheduled later this month.
PEMCO’s continued success in South American markets has opened new doors necessitating this expansion. In addition to PEMCO’s established conversion sites in the U.S. and Asia, COOPESA’s Central America location provides easy access for North and South America-based customers, as well as an attractive option for European customers.
The new partnership combines PEMCO’s renowned cargo conversion and aircraft maintenance services with COOPESA’s highly capable workforce and decades of B737 maintenance and heavy structure experience.
“There has been conjecture regarding a PEMCO expansion into a new facility for the past few months. The opportunity to expand into Central and South America was at the top of our priorities and the partnership with COOPESA is one that makes sense from a financial, technical and geographic perspective," said PEMCO CEO Bill Meehan.
“PEMCO’s strong order backlog and COOPESA’s attractive combination of structures capability, economics, location and culture make for a promising 2014 and beyond. The new alliance will provide much needed slot availability in order to keep up with pending orders, bringing the number of active PEMCO conversion lines to eight at the moment, ramping to at least 9 by mid-2014,” said Kevin Casey, president of PEMCO. “A substantial portion of our 100+ Boeing 737-400/300 conversions have been accomplished in partner operations, all delivered with excellent quality, turn time and financials. There is every reason to believe we will achieve exemplary results with COOPESA as well.”
