Aeronautics firm OGMA investing €90M, hiring 200 to service plane engines
OGMA's annual revenue is currently about €230 million, and is expected to reach "over €600 million by 2027.
The Portuguese aeronautical industry producer OGMA is investing €90 million and hiring 200 people to prepare for new contracts that will allow the company’s turnover to triple by 2027, the CEO said.
Speaking to Lusa, Paulo Monginho, chief executive officer (CEO) of OGMA highlighted “two very important projects”.
“The first is the preparation of our company in Portugal to do the maintenance of engines” for “the Airbus 320neo aircraft” and for “the Embraer E2,” he said.
According to the company’s leader, “these engine models will allow OGMA to more than triple its revenue in the coming years”, adding that he is talking about “an extraordinary evolution” for the company and “for the national industry that enters directly in Airbus’ value chain at the level of engines and Embraer’s ‘e-jets'”.
Paulo Monginho said that “the contract with Airbus was signed in December 2020 and with Embraer was signed in December 2021”, noting that these are contracts “for over 40 years that presuppose a very large investment in what in aeronautics is called industrialisation, that is, to provide the company with the technical and human resources to be prepared to receive the engines”.
“This involves an investment of €90 million, which OGMA is making, and the hiring of around 200 highly qualified workers,” he indicated, explaining that the “entry of the first Airbus engine is scheduled for April 2024, which seems very late, but it is absolutely record time that OGMA is taking to become qualified.”
Paulo Monginho also gave an account of a “second strategic project” for OGMA, 65% owned by Brazil’s Embraer, related to support for the sale and “entry into service of Embraer’s new military aircraft, which is the KC-390”, which the Portuguese Air Force has acquired.
According to the CEO, OGMA’s annual revenue is currently about €230 million, and is expected to reach “over €600 million by 2027.
According to the CEO, the company has six key business areas and “is focusing on increasing its capacity to carry out maintenance of commercial aircraft, all of which are aircraft from the Embraer family,” he said.
By the end of the year OGMA will also launch an aeronautical academy, “where aeronautical maintenance technicians will be certified,” said the CEO, explaining that this will initially “meet the operational needs” of the company, “and then in a second phase, if it goes well,” OGMA will consider selling services in this area.
OGMA has about 1,700 workers and will now have an additional 200, the chairman said.
Paulo Monginho spoke to Lusa during the sector’s trade fair in Paris (Salon International de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace) where OGMA has been a regular participant.
