WILLEMSTAD - With a so-called user agreement, Airline Technical Support (ATS) established in the Netherlands, and Curaçao Airport Partners (CAP) signed a long-term cooperation in the field of aircraft maintenance last week. CAP facilitates by providing adequate hangar space, and ATS together, with their local branch Airline Technical Support Caribe NV have entered the final phase of setting up an independent Aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul organization (MRO).
Curaçao, because of its central location, is the perfect location for such an MRO. There is a shortage of high-quality MRO capacity in the region for types of aircraft of the Fokker family as well as for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. ATSC is also preparing to provide service for other types of aircraft, including service to local airlines.
The agreement also means that in the near future CAP will take into account that this type of service offering will grow and that CAP will provide additional capacity by building new and larger hangar space, making it possible for larger types to be added in the next phase so that aircraft, so-called wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and 787 and the Airbus A330, can be maintained here. "What Damen Shiprepair entails for shipping, Airline Technical Support will mean for aviation in the region," says Lars de Brabander, the Interim Managing Director who has been asked to guide the process.
“We are currently focusing on obtaining the required AMO certification (Approved Maintenance Organization) from the local aviation authority, a time-consuming but all-important process, whereby ATSC becomes a locally recognized maintenance organization that may preventively maintain or alter an aircraft, airframe, aircraft engine, propeller part thereof for which it has been assessed. Within the region we notice that many local air carriers still perform their maintenance activities in-house. However, in-house maintenance is no longer economically viable for most air carriers.
The increasing safety and quality and certification requirements will become a financial and organization burden for the air carriers. Time and money, they can better spend on their core activities of servicing travelers and develop their existing or new destinations. It will increase the quality level of maintenance, improve focus and performance for air carriers and it will lower their cost for aircraft maintenance and operations.”
