MAAS Aviation opens new world-class aircraft paint shop in Kaunas, Lithuania
DUBLIN/KAUNAS: Lithuania’s second busiest airport gets a boost with MAAS Aviation’s decision to open their new purpose-built paint shop at Kaunas Airport (KUN) bringing to 11 their total facilities in Europe and the US.
MAAS Aviation, a recognized expert in aircraft and exterior coatings, said their facility is the first of its kind in Lithuania and is projected to increase the company’s overall capacity in Europe by 40%. That means painting some 300 aircraft in all of their 11 paint shops—3 in Hamburg; 2 in Kaunas; 2 in Maastricht; 1 in Fokker Woensdrecht; and 3 in Mobile, Alabama—with expected turnover exceeding USD28 million.
The company said its ultra-modern Lithuanian facility is a twin-bay narrow body paint shop capable of accommodating up to two A321 sized aircraft simultaneously. All MAAS Aviation facilities are certified to EN9100, ISO9001 and ISO14001 standards and the Kaunas shop will operate to these standards from the outset.
Tim Macdougald, CEO of MAAS Aviation, said Lithuania’s business friendly approach convinced them to open their new facility in the former Soviet state.
“I’d particularly like to mention Invest Lithuania and the Airport Authority of Lithuania for supporting a project that spearheads the development of aviation services at Kaunas; and to FL Technics for committing to build a partnership with MAAS to combine our services with theirs for the benefit of airline and lease company customers; and to Ryanair for its continued business and trust in being our launch customer at the site,” he said.
In the build-up to establishing this new facility, MAAS Aviation said it experienced a dynamic growth trajectory. In 2015, the company had just three paint shops in two locations, 130 aircraft were painted, and turnover was approximately $10 million.
“All MAAS paint shops are operated to OEM standards of performance and we are one of the top three MROs in the world offering a specialist service,” explains Macdougald. “Our business benefits from long term customer contracts including with Airbus all of which relate to our culture which combines integrity with competence and reliability.”
“The standard of our facilities reflects our design expertise and includes full climate control paint shops, computerized building management systems and data logging, high-lux lighting, and fully-lined clean paint shops. Our use of aircraft access docking systems eliminates the risk of damaging aircraft during painting due to the avoidance of moving equipment.”
