Finnair and Finncomm form JV Maintenance Company

Finnair and Finncomm Airlines have formed a joint venture, Finnish Aircraft Maintenance Oy (FAM), which will specialise in maintenance services for regional aircraft. Finnair and Finncomm Airlines will each own 50% of the company. The company previously operated as part of the Finncomm Group.

The Civil Aviation Authority granted FAM an aircraft maintenance licence at the beginning of August, at which time the company started operating. The license covers ATR turboprops and Embraer 145 jets. The intention of the company is to create at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport an effective maintenance organisation which will serve both domestic and international customers. The arrangement still requires the approval of the Competition Authorities.

Juha Ojala M.Sc.(Eng) has been appointed managing director of Finnish Aircraft Maintenance Oy. The company will employ around 60 people. A new maintenance hangar will open at Helsinki-Vantaa in the Spring of 2009.

“The new company combines Finnair’s long experience of aircraft maintenance and Finncomm’s dynamism. The small organisation will facilitate flexible operating practices. In this way we will be able to retain and develop in Finland high quality maintenance expertise for regional planes,” said FAM’s Managing Director Juha Ojala.

FAM’s biggest customer is Finncomm Airlines, which currently has nine ATR 500 series aircraft. The size of the ATR fleet will grow to 16 aircraft by 2011. Finnair discontinued its ATR traffic at the beginning of this year, when its subsidiary Aero ceased operating.

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