EasyJet to build maintenance hangar in Berlin

EasyJet will build a hangar at Berlin airport for light base maintenance checks as part of a wider effort to insource more MRO activities. Berlin’s airport operator FBB says it has signed a lease agreement with EasyJet for the new facility and that documents for planning permission have been submitted ahead of a projected construction start later this year. Operations at the new German facility, which will accommodate four Airbus A321s, are scheduled to begin in early 2023. The site will be used for light base maintenance checks on EasyJet’s Austrian-registered European A320-family fleet, and will enable the UK low-cost carrier to conduct “more comprehensive” technical checks and ensure a “smooth” maintenance process, FBB says. EasyJet country manager Germany Stephan Erler describes the hangar as “the logical next step” after the airline insourced line maintenance at Berlin from Lufthansa Technik in 2020. “The investment in our first continental European hangar underlines the strategic importance of our base for the EasyJet network and the close co-operation with Berlin Brandenburg airport’s operating company,” Erler states.<br/>