Located at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County, Florida, Bombardier inaugurated its state-of-the-art service centre on 31 October.
The new facility, which is located close to Miami’s bustling business district, has been described by the airframe manufacturer as a “testament to Bombardier’s commitment to the US and nearby Latin American markets.” It also establishes a key building block in its growing global customer support network. At full capacity, the new OEM-operated Miami-Opa Locka Service Centre will add close to 300 aerospace jobs in the community, including more than 225 highly skilled technicians.
Once fully ramped up the 300,000 sq.ft. facility will quadruple Bombardier’s current maintenance footprint in Florida and will enable the company to transfer its service centre from Fort Lauderdale to the new centre at Miami-Opa.
“The US is an important market for Bombardier with close to 3,000 aircraft in our fleet and this highly-efficient facility provides a key focal point for customers base in the area, and those who will visit form as far as Latin America,” said Eric Martel, President and CEO, Bombardier.
“Bombardier began this year by naming Witchita as our new headquarters in the US and I am delighted to highlight this inauguration that significantly grows our footprint and employment base in Florida. The city of Miami is a vibrant, international hub of business and commerce and we can’t wait to welcome our customers to our new facility and see our employees continued to thrive and grow.”
The new centre is fully equipped to perform extensive and complete full-service schedueld and unscheduled heavy maintenance, paint enhancement services, aircraft modifications, avionics installations and Aircraft on Ground Support (AOG) for Bombardier’s business aircraft fleet of Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft. The expanded hangar is also capable of accommodating 18 of Bombardier’s Global 7500 aircraft under one roof.
Ralph Cutie, Miami-Dade Aviation Department Director and CEO added his congratulations to Bombardier, saying: “The successful completion of its newest service centre has brought hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in private investment to Miami-Opa Locke Executive Airport. We are extremely proud to now be home to one of Bombardier’s service centres and a hub for its customers in the US and Latin America.”
