Riga Airport to get service center

  • 2006-06-07
  • From wire reports
RIGA - Riga International Airport, the most dynamic hub in the Baltics, will soon have a maintenance service hanger for Boeing and Airbus planes. A joint venture between Konkors, a Latvian firm, and Switzerland's SR Technics, plan to build the service center and launch operations this fall, according to reports.

"Today we can announce with certainty that construction of the maintenance hangar will be completed in seven to eight weeks," said Konkors President Sergejs Ratnikovs, adding that the "maintenance services base must be fully functional by this fall."
Ratnikovs said all the necessary equipment would be installed in the hangar to carry out routine and thorough maintenance work. The maintenance hangar will have enough space for three small Boeing and Airbus aircraft. By the end of this year, Konkors and SR Technics are planning to service up to 10 Boeing 737 planes, Ratnikovs said.

In late February, Konkors and SR Technics in Zurich signed a memorandum on the foundation of a joint venture with an aim to set up a technical center for the maintenance of small Boeing and Airbus planes at the Riga International Airport. According to the business plan, both companies are expected to sign an agreement on setting up the joint venture, Ratnikovs said.
Konkors provides chartered flights and sells GPR satellite navigation receivers, aircraft parts and other products, as well as provides maintenance and repair services.

SR Technics provides maintenance services to Airbus and Boeing aircraft. In 2002, the company was bought by investors 3i plc and Star Capital among others, and it has become the largest independent company providing aircraft maintenance and repair services, according to the company's Web site.
Meanwhile, Riga Airport announced that in the first five months of this year it served 899,977 passengers, a 42.8 percent boost year-on-year. The number of flights rose 11.5 percent, and the volume of cargos declined by 47.2 percent.
In May, Riga Airport served 214,200 passengers, up 33.1 percent from the same month in 2005.