14 October 2019:KLM UK Engineering had organised a ground breaking ceremony to officially start the construction of a 7 million aircraft maintenance hangar and workshop at Norwich Airport.
The hub which will be due for completion by August 2020 will give KLM UK Engineering with additional capacity to provide high-quality aircraft maintenance and repair services to customers worldwide.
Norwich Airport which is owned and operated by Regional & City Airports (RCA), which also owns and operates Bournemouth Airport, Coventry Airport and Exeter Airport, is investing 7 million.
"This is a great milestone and is the next step in our aspirations to make Norwich a world-class centre of excellence for aviation MRO," said Norwich Airport managing director Richard Pace "KLM UK Engineering is a major employer locally, with hundreds of skilled staff, and the new hangar and workshop facilities will be a superb and much-needed asset.
"Our economic input is already a proud one here at Norwich Airport; we have 274 staff and support, directly and indirectly, 1,240 jobs, with approximately 70 million contributed to the local economy," continued Richard Pace.
Rigby Real Estate, the group's property division, is managing the project, with a 54,000 sq ft hangar and 15,500 sq ft workshop. MJS has been appointed as the construction company.
"I am delighted to be breaking ground on our hangar project, especially today as it is a very significant week for the AFIKLM E&M brand, with all areas celebrating the KLM 100 Years," said Peter van der Horst, managing director at KLM UK Engineering. "We will be celebrating both these significant milestones with our team in Norwich and look forward to the building of these great new facilities."