AAR CORP, provider of aviation services to commercial and government operators, MROs, and OEMs, has signed an agreement with United Airlines (United) to extend its existing airframe MRO services relationship through 2030 and expand its heavy maintenance commitments.

Under the agreement, AAR has committed to growing its dedicated airframe narrowbody capacity to provide United a minimum of 10 lines of maintenance support across AAR’s Miami, Florida, and Rockford, Illinois, MRO facilities.

AAR states that to support the additional lines of maintenance, it will add a new three-bay hangar adjacent to its existing nine-bay facility at Miami International Airport. Miami-Dade County is expected to reimburse the construction costs of the hangar.

United’s increased maintenance commitment is projected to create more than 250 AAR careers in the Miami and Rockford communities and grow revenue for Miami International Airport. AAR aims to leverage its approach to workforce development to enhance its efforts to build a best-in-class workforce by hiring a diverse, highly-skilled team to support the additional workload.

Mike Arata, managing director of base maintenance for United Airlines, said: “United and AAR have enjoyed a long, successful relationship based on AAR’s reputation for safety, quality, and reliability.

“Expanding our relationship with AAR is an important step in building out our internal and external long-term heavy maintenance footprint to meet the demand for our growing fleet.”

Chris Jessup, chief commercial officer for AAR, said: “We are very excited to extend and expand our heavy maintenance support of United Airlines. This new agreement drives an increase in our MRO footprint, which we expect will create hundreds of career opportunities that will benefit the aviation industry and the Miami and Rockford communities.”

(Picture above – United Airlines 737-8. Credit: united.com)