A Closer Look At Turkish Technic's New MRO Facilities

Turkish Technic

Pre-COVID-19, aftermarket specialists were adding to their existing capacity. In Turkey, the bridge between Europe and the Middle East, Turkish Technic bolstered its maintenance capacity by opening new facilities at Istanbul Airport. In October 2019, it unveiled a 645,000 ft.² MRO complex in the capital, which can accommodate three widebody and six narrowbody aircraft simultaneously. Saudi Arabia is also increasing its competitiveness in MRO services, with much of its MRO ambitions centered on Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI). SAEI's move to a new 9.6 million ft.² facility in Jeddah provides a necessary capacity boost, with the site home to 11 aircraft hangars, eight maintenance shops and more than two dozen component shops.

In April 2019, Turkish Airlines transferred its headquarters and operations from Ataturk, a process which took just 33 hours to complete.

Last year, Turkish Technic started moving existing operations from Ataturk where it operated five widebody and seven narrowbody hangars to the new MRO campus. Before base maintenance, the MRO had already moved its line maintenance services across from its former site. In total, the MRO transferred more than 5,000 components and 10,000 aircraft parts into newly built workshops and warehouses in early April 2019, shortly before the full commercial flight transfer was completed.

Turkish Technic's manpower was also relocated, with more than 3,000 roles from engineers and mechanics to administrative personnel making the 26-mi. journey north.

The new 645,000 sq. ft. MRO complex in the country’s capital has capacity for three widebody and six narrowbody aircraft simultaneously.

Before the start of the base maintenance operation, Turkish Technic had been running line maintenance services at Istanbul Airport for more than one year, along with A checks, cabin maintenance, structural repair and component pool services for several aircraft at the same time from its new hangar.

Construction of the hangar has also seen a raft of environmentally friendly initiatives rolled out, such as water being generated through rainwater harvesting and the use of solar-powered energy. This will be achieved through translucent polycarbonate panels that allow exposure to longer periods of sunlight while waste oil taken out of aircraft fuel tanks will be recycled to aid the running of the heating system.

The Istanbul Airport location will serve as the MRO's primary hub, working in addition to existing hangars at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport and Ankara.

By 2023, Turkish Technic's MRO complex will be in place to carry out more services. The move will also certainly alleviate capacity issues, enabling the company to seek more third-party work.

When all phases of the construction are completed, Technic will be operating on 5.4 million ft.2 of space, with facilities delivering base maintenance services for up to 19 widebody and 26 narrowbody aircraft simultaneously. Turkish Technic is aiming for the airport to act as a single-source maintenance location.