WILLEMSTAD - Last week, the so-called AMO (Approved Maintenance Organization) certificate was presented to employees of Airline Technical Support Caribe NV, a local venture of Airline Technical Support in Woensdrecht Netherlands in November 2019, by the Minister of Traffic Transport and Urban Planning, Mrs. Zita Jesus-Leito. With this certificate, the authority expresses its confidence in the organization. This makes ATSC a locally accredited maintenance organization, which may carry out preventive maintenance or changes to an aircraft, airframe, aircraft engine, or part thereof for which it has been assessed, F70/F100.
“Obtaining this certificate marks the end of an essential and mandatory process in which ATSC has complied with all standards and procedures that apply to civil aviation in general, specifically in the field of aircraft maintenance, and the focus will now shift to attracting customers for both minor and major aircraft maintenance”, said Kris Bleyenberg, owner of both companies. “Maintaining the standards and procedures is, however, a permanent part of business operations and, together with the civil aviation authority, it is regularly monitored whether we are 'on par' with the recommendations, the requirements and any changes in the policy determined by the authorities. Thus, ATSC will operate as an independent Approved Maintenance Organization (AMO), initially for Fokker aircraft types, after which other types of aircraft will be added to the so-called OpSpecs (Operations Specifications), depending on the needs of airlines from both the region as well as international. ”
Curaçao is the perfect location for an AMO due to its central location. In addition, there is a shortage in the region of high-quality AMO capacity for aircraft types of the Fokker family as well as for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. Worldwide, only three alternatives are still available for Fokker types: in the Netherlands, Germany and Singapore.
“Within the region, we notice that many local airlines are still carrying out their maintenance activities internally,” said Bleyenberg. “In-house maintenance is often no longer economically feasible and advantageous for most airlines. Increasing safety, quality and certification requirements are a financial and organizational burden for airlines. With the arrival of an independent and locally accredited maintenance organization, the quality level of maintenance in Curaçao will be increased and thus also flight safety. The focus and performance for airlines improved and the costs for maintenance and operations of aircraft reduced.
