LTP Opens New $30M Hangar

MANILA, Philippines - Expecting surging demand for servicing long-haul Airbus planes in Asia, Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP), has opened a US$30-million third wide-body plane hangar in Manila for work on the world's largest commercial aircraft.

The company, a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik (51%) and the Philippine MacroAsia Corporation (49%), is one of the largest providers of aircraft maintenance services in the region and an Airbus specialist.

It invested in the new 8,500 square meters hangar with a height of 35 meter, with enough space to work simultaneously on one wide-body and two narrow-body aircraft. It will start C-checks and cabin modifications for the Airbus A380 next month.

"With the new hangar, we'll be able to keep up with the increasing demand for technical services for long-haul Airbus aircraft, particularly in the Asian market," confirmed Lufthansa Technik AG's Chairman of the Executive Board, August Wilhelm Henningsen.

"By adding A380 capability, it underscores Lufthansa Technik Philippines' role as global competence center for Airbus overhauls," he stressed.

Operating the new hangar will also mean adding 400 high-technology and high-skills jobs to the existing 2,700 jobs in LTP.

"The opening of the new hangar serves to reaffirm the Filipino aviation workers' place among the world's best and underscores LTP 's long-term plans of operating in the Philippines," added Washington SyCip, Chairman of Lufthansa Technik Philippines.

In preparation for the capability expansion, LufthansaTechnik Philippines employees have completed training which consisted of A380-specific course in Lufthansa Technical Training Philippines, the on-site training center in Manila, and several months of on-the-job training performing A380 C-checks at Lufthansa Technik in Frankfurt, Germany.

In these exposures, Filipino engineers and mechanics benefited from the exchange of knowledge and skills within the Lufthansa Technik Group.

Eleven years after its founding, Lufthansa Technik Philippines, located at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, offers comprehensive technical services including lease return checks and cabin modification for the Airbus A330/A340 and A320 families and now also for the Airbus A380.

It has 30 overhaul customers including Philippine Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, LAN Chile and AirAsia X. Lufthansa Technik Philippines has about 20 approvals from aviation authorities including the American FAA and the European EASA.