The Irish budget airline Ryanair has announced plans to permanently base a third aircraft at Kaunas Airport in Lithuania next year. Part of the plan is to build another aircraft repair and maintenance hangar, which will involve investments of millions of euros and create some 150 jobs.
The 7,600 m2 hangar is to be built on 1.06 hectares of land leased by FRC LT, which is Ryanair’s subsidiary in Lithuania. The land will be leased from the Lithuanian Airports company (LTOU), and it is expected that the new building will be operational by the last quarter of 2025, according to information from the published Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project.
“The garage-type building (hangar) will be used exclusively for the servicing of Ryanair aircraft,” the document states. “It will be able to accommodate two airplanes simultaneously.”
FRC LT declined to comment further about its plans and future investments, but when Ryanair announced the opening of an 8,000 m2 facility with two hangars at Kaunas Airport last May, it said that it had already invested EUR 20 million in the project.
At the same time, the Irish airline also said that it will base a new aircraft at the airport, bringing the total at Kaunas Airport to three.
The EIA says that the new hangar is expected to employ around 150 people who will service as many as 365 airplanes per year. The hangar will also have a car park for employees, as well as vehicles to tow the aircraft around.
Aircraft maintenance at Kaunas Airport is handled by Kaunas Aircraft Maintenance Services (KAMS), which is part of the Ryan Group and is 100% owned by FRC LT. Also involved in the work are FL Technics, DAT and MAAS Aviation.
KAMS employs 344 people, and from 2022 to 2023 it nearly quadrupled net profits to EUR 1.63 million, with revenues jumping by 49.6% to EUR 14.85 million.
Last February the company announced plans to hire another 250 people as part of its expansion at Kaunas Airport.
Source: BNS
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