A Swiss-based aircraft maintenance company will open a servicing operation in Malta employing 350 people by 2014 with its first major client being the popular low-cost carrier Easyjet.
SR Technics will take a 30-year lease on a new €40 million four-bay hangar that will be built by Malta Enterprise at the airport's Park 4 on the Luqa side, next to the Lufthansa Technik building.
The investment was announced yesterday by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Finance Minister Tonio Fenech in the presence of SR Technics' chief operations officer Andrè Wall and Easyjet's technical director Ian Davies.
The company, owned by Gulf-based Mubadala Development Company and Dubai Aerospace, will use the existing Air Malta hangar until the new facilities are built. The first aircraft will be serviced in the second half of next year. Easyjet's fleet of 157 aircraft will be serviced at SR Technics' new facility in an 11-year agreement worth $1.6 billion. The deal with SR Technics will save Easyjet up to 17 per cent in maintenance costs.
Earlier this year, SR Technics closed its Dublin airport operation shedding over 1,000 jobs, citing the loss of major contracts, the bleak economic forecast and the high cost-base of the Irish operation as reasons for the decision.
The Malta investment formed part of SR Technics' restructuring exercise but it was also an expansion, Mr Wall said when asked.
He praised the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology for its aircraft maintenance training programme, which already provides recruits for Lufthansa Technik, and expressed confidence that sufficient human resources would be found in Malta.
The Prime Minister said the investment was a sign of investor confidence in the country at a difficult time.
"While other countries are facing job losses we are announcing the creation of new high value added job opportunities. This investment is another significant and concrete step towards achieving our country's vision for 2015, which includes establishing Malta as a centre of excellence for high-value added industry," Dr Gonzi said, insisting the investment strengthened Malta's engineering tradition.
The niche sector of aircraft maintenance employs about 5,000 people and along with the pharmaceutical sector is one of the growing industries.
Avoiding the flak directed towards the Finance Minister in recent weeks by sections of the media, Dr Gonzi thanked Mr Fenech for his leadership in managing the process with SR Technics and EasyJet.
Negotiations with the company had been going on for six months and Malta was competing with another 54 destinations.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com