Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico begins operations

A Spirit Airlines A320 arrives at Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico for a C check.

(Lufthansa Technik)

Lufthansa Technik’s (LHT) new Puerto Rico MRO facility at Rafael Hernández International Airport in Aguadilla started operations July 21 with its first overhaul line. A second overhaul line is expected to be operational in November, followed by three more lines until early 2017 to include Boeing 737s.

Initial customers are Airbus A320 family aircraft operators, Spirit Airlines and JetBlue Airways, from the Americas. Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico (LTPR) is FAA Part 145- and EASA Part 145-approved.

Construction on the facility, a former US Air Force base, began in August 2014.

“One day we expect to handle about 100 to 150 aircraft per year at LTPR,” LHT chairman Johannes Bussmann told ATW earlier this year in Hamburg. “This location has potential. LTPR has the opportunity to grow further, but we will only grow based on demand.”

LTPR has trained 140 employees and plans to increase its workforce to 400 over the next two years.

In its final configuration, the 215,000 sq. ft. facility will offer five lines for base and heavy maintenance checks (C-, IL- and D-checks), along with other maintenance work (including aircraft painting) on narrow-body aircraft.

LTPR, which is located on the west edge of Puerto Rico, is within flying distance of all A320 family aircraft in the Americas.

(Kurt Hofmann - ATWOnline News)