Hi Fly expanding aircraft maintenance operation at Beja airport

A logistics centre for the Mesa company, owner of an aircraft maintenance hangar at Beja airport, will “be born” in the vicinity of the airport, in an investment of 10 million euros, the Hi Fly group revealed on Wednesday.

Hi-Fly, which owns Mesa, said “the new logistics centre will be located near the airport, ideally in its immediate surroundings, and the search for suitable land with construction capacity is currently underway”.

“The planned investment is 10 million euros and is fully supported by the company and its shareholders”.

Beja airport has been used by Hi Fly, since 2016, for parking and line maintenance of its aircraft, having officially opened and started operating, in January this year, the Mesa maintenance hangar.

At the time, according to Hi Fly, the hangar, resulting from a 30 million euro investment, “will be a reference facility” in Portugal, with the capacity to accommodate large aircraft, such as Airbus A319, A320, A321, A330, A340 and A350 models.

According to the group, the hangar, which covers an area of 9,500 square metres, also has “room to carry out maintenance work on up to three aircraft simultaneously” and, “if necessary”, the team will be able to operate “24 hours a day, seven days a week”.

Hi Fly Group assured Lusa today that “the maintenance activity in the hangar has been going well, inspections and modifications to several aircraft have already been carried out and 2021 is expected to be a good year”.

As for the new logistics centre, it will serve “to support the development of aircraft maintenance activity at Beja airport”.

This new facility “will have a storage area for aircraft parts and consumables and workshops with around nine thousand square metres”, to which “another three thousand square metres of offices” will be added.

During the construction phase, Hi Fly expects the logistics centre to employ “around 60 workers”.

Asked about the deadlines for the implementation of this investment, the group said that, having already decided to move forward with the project in Beja, “the goal is that it is completed as quickly as possible.

“The first stage is to locate and acquire the land where it will be built. Collaboration has been requested from Beja Municipal Council to identify land around the airport that is eligible and viable”.

This is “work in progress,” and after this land is found, the group estimates “six months for the execution of the project,” and another “six months for licensing,” to which “around 18 months for construction.”