Qantas and Patrick Corporation form Joint Venture to acquire Engine Facility

Qantas announced today that it had entered into a joint venture with Patrick Corporation to acquire the former Ansett engine maintenance facility at Garden Drive, Tullamarine in Melbourne.

The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Geoff Dixon, said the joint venture, known as Engine Services Company or ESCO, had submitted an offer to the Ansett Administrator.

"The Qantas fleet has grown significantly over the past two years and we have been assessing a range of options for the fleet's future engine maintenance requirements," Mr Dixon said.

"We are delighted that ESCO will enable us to provide additional specialised engine maintenance jobs in Australia and achieve this with a business structure that will be competitive and sustainable.

"We are also pleased that we have reached agreement with the AWU, the AMWU and the ACTU on an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement for ESCO.

"Qantas' investment in ESCO again highlights the company's continuing investment in engineering and maintenance infrastructure in Australia," Mr Dixon said.

"This includes the establishment of a Boeing 767 major maintenance hangar in Brisbane next year and the recent expansion of our apprenticeship program with more than 500 apprentices employed."

Mr Dixon said if the ESCO offer was accepted the former Ansett facility would become a Centre of Excellence for General Electric and CFMI engines, providing high quality maintenance with world class turnaround times and competitive costs. This would allow other Qantas maintenance facilities to simplify their businesses and achieve world class competitive performance.

"ESCO will maintain all Qantas' General Electric and CFMI engines while the Sydney engine facility will maintain Rolls Royce engine types," Mr Dixon said. "The existing facility at Tullamarine Airport will focus on maintenance of Auxiliary Power Units.

"ESCO will also seek to attract work from other customers, including Virgin Blue."