Aviatic MRO has opened a state-of-the-art aircraft maintenance facility at Šiauliai International Airport (SQQ), Lithuania.

Built in cooperation with aircraft lease company, World Star Aviation, the brand-new maintenance facility has four bays for narrowbodies or can hold one widebody and two narrowbodies, and occupies a total area of 17,000 square metres including warehouses, workshops, and offices.

The hangar is fully modular, can be adapted to any MRO needs, and fits up to B747-8 aircraft.

Lithuania-based Aviatic MRO will provide line and base maintenance services for the Airbus A320 and A330, as well as Boeing 737 Classic and NG aircraft including scheduled heavy maintenance checks, end-of-lease projects, delivery/redelivery checks, modifications, and other MRO services.

Dmitrij Čeliadin, founder of Aviatic MRO, said: “The opening of this hangar facility marks an important achievement both for Aviatic MRO and the overall aviation sector in the Baltics. Our goal is to become a leading centre for aircraft maintenance in the region and provide airlines with a wide range of customised services, including line and base maintenance, continuing airworthiness management, and spare parts supply.

“The hangar facility at SQQ is our strategic step in entering a new niche and offering the customers diverse maintenance services along with parking slots in front of the new hangar. This brings additional efficiency and convenience to our customers.”

Marc Iarchy, partner at World Star Aviation, said: “The demand for professional and comprehensive aircraft maintenance and repair services keeps rising due to the growth of air travel, shortage of spare parts, delays in manufacturing, and increasing focus on the aviation sector overall. And this new Aviatic MRO maintenance facility opens up wide possibilities for airlines and lessors to maintain their fleet.

“For us at World Star Aviation, this achievement of our partners means new horizons for cooperation, increasing efficiency in fleet maintenance, and new capacities for one-stop MRO solutions.”

Full-service operations at the hangar facility will begin in Q4 2023. Investment in the maintenance facility is approximately €20m and is said to bring around 1,000 high-skilled aviation technician jobs in the region.

Aviatic MRO has bigger plans for the entire facility which it hopes to become one of the largest aircraft maintenance centres in Europe. The company has already acquired a permit and the land to expand and build a second hangar with six bays, occupying a total area of 23,400 square metres.