Lufthansa Technik Sofia Expands Narrow-body Hangar Capacity

Lufthansa Technik Sofia is expanding its narrow-body hangar capacity by a new 2-bays construction for heavy checks. Additionally, a separate Light Weight Hangar will be constructed and used for Line Maintenance operations and lighter checks.

In the presence of the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, representatives of Lufthansa Technik AG and Bulgarian Aviation Group, the two joint venture partners of Lufthansa Technik Sofia, confirmed the roughly 15 million Euro investment on 13th of September. The official signing ceremony took place at the Lufthansa Technik Sofia facility at the international airport of Bulgaria's capital.

With this extension Lufthansa Technik Sofia will be able to nearly double its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacities for the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 families to four aircraft in parallel. The first bay of the new 56,000 square-feet hangar will be operational in the first quarter next year, the second one will follow a few months later. With the new capacity the number of employees will increase by more than 150 people to about 500 until the end of 2012.

Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria said: "It makes me proud to hear that Lufthansa Technik Sofia is expanding and that it will build three additional bays. I am especially excited that in a time of economic crisis, additional jobs will open for more than 150 people and in a specific sector such as aviation. The face of Sofia Airport, the main gateway to Bulgaria, will change for the better and all arriving passengers will see the predominant logo of Lufthansa Technik Sofia on the hangars. This logo guarantees quality and I am most pleased that all parties involved in the project contributed to thus welcome all visitors of the country."

Speaking on behalf of Lufthansa Technik, Dr. Thomas Stueger, Chief Executive Product and Services, said: "Within just four years and despite a global economic crisis, Lufthansa Technik Sofia has been established as one of the leading MRO centers for narrow-body aircraft for Europe and the Middle East.

The hangar extension is a clear proof for a high customer appreciation of the work of our Bulgarian employees. We need this expansion to ensure sufficient capacity in the area of narrow-body aircraft overhaul in our global network. In a situation of permanent cost-pressure and strong competition this new facility will put us in an excellent position to meet the demand for overhaul services which is growing in the long run. Thus, I would like to appeal to the colleagues at Lufthansa Technik Sofia to continue with the excellent performance which they have shown in the past. I also would like to thank our partners from the Bulgarian Aviation Group for the successful cooperation and especially the Bulgarian Government for their enduring support".

Plamen Atanassov, CEO of Bulgarian Aviation Group said: "I am truly happy that our collaboration with Lufthansa Technik is being brought to a new level. The expansion of Lufthansa Technik Sofia is a most positive development for Bulgaria and Bulgarian Aviation in general.

This extended partnership confirms the company's role of a sustainable investor in Bulgaria and renders the German Bulgarian Joint Venture a competitive player on the international market for MRO services."

Since its foundation in 2007, Lufthansa Technik Sofia has already carried out more than 60 heavy checks on aircraft of the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737 families for Lufthansa, Bulgaria Air and other customers, including Oman Air, BMI Baby, Ural Airlines, Nordavia just to mention a few.

Lufthansa Technik:

The Lufthansa Technik Group, with 32 subsidiaries and about 26,000 employees worldwide, is one of the leading manufacturer-independent providers of services for the aviation industry. In 2009, the Group's overall revenues stood at 4 billion euros. Lufthansa Technik is licensed internationally as a repair, production and development enterprise. The Group's portfolio encompasses the entire spectrum of services in the areas of maintenance, repair, overhaul, modification and conversion, engines and components.