Manila Standard Today
April 30, 2011
THE Philippines will have a repair facility for the giant A380 jet ready by January, officials said Friday, and even though none of its airports is equipped to handle the commercial flights of the largest passenger airliner in the world.
Lufthansa Technik Philippines on Friday broke ground for the 8,448-square-meter, $30-million aircraft maintenance hangar at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport that will make Manila one of only four places in the world—-after Paris, Dubai and Singapore—where the double-decker, wide-body aircraft may be maintained and repaired.
German Ambassador Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch says the facility, a joint venture by Lufthansa and businessman Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia, will create 400 jobs here and ensure the continued employment of the 2,7000 employees of the publicly-listed MacroAsia.
The groundbreaking was attended by Lufthansa Technik (Germany) chief operating officer Thomas Krueger, Lufthansa Technik chairman Washington Sycip, Ambassador Delia Domingo, Philippine Airlines president Jaime Bautista, Philippine Export Zone Authority Director-General Lilia de Lima, and MacroAsia chairman Joseph Chua.
“We are happy that ... the hangar ... will put the Philippines on the aviation map,” Lufthansa Technik Philippines president Bernhard Krueger-Sprengel said.
“We [also] have a maintenance facility in Clark, and our long-term plan is we follow where the customer goes,” he said. Eric B. Apolonio
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