Baku, Azerbaijan, May 25
By Ali Mustafayev – Trend:
Air Astana opened a technical center for aircraft maintenance at the Nursultan Nazarbayev International airport in Astana, Kazakh media outlets reported.
The project, worth $19 million, was financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The president of Air Astana Peter Foster noted that the air center will provide maintenance services for aircraft and other airlines.
"Kazakhstan’s national air carrier celebrates the 16th anniversary of its activities this year. In honor of this significant event, we are pleased to present a new aviation and technical center in Astana, which will contribute to the development of the capital as the largest aviation and transit hub in the region," Foster said.
The hangar is built based on a Canadian project using energy-saving technologies and allows maintenance of aircraft even in low-temperature conditions. The area of this center is 5,500 square meters, which allows repairing one airliner Boeing 787, or one Airbus 321 and one Boeing 767 at the same time. In addition to the hangar, the center includes office premises for the airline staff, storage facilities, a garage for special equipment, repair shops for components and etc.
"Presently, we have the IASA (International Aviation Safety Assessment Program) certification for line maintenance, which includes all work up to the A-check level. We also plan to get certification for work at any level of service complexity here, including complicated forms of C-check service," the company’s president said.
Foster also stressed that the construction of an aviation and technical center will allow to keep the company's expenses at an effective level, and at the same time to develop maintenance of aircraft as a separate type of business.
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