A small aviation company based in Caboolture, Queensland, has promised to provide more aircraft engineering jobs to Australians after securing a maintenance contract with Nauru Airlines. Aircraft Structural Contractors (ASC) will service five 737s from the Aircraft Service Centre, a new aircraft maintenance facility at Brisbane Airport.
Previously, Nauru Airlines’ aircraft had been maintained by Quantas and Toll, however its recent expansion negated a dedicated facility, according to chief executive Geoff Bowmaker.
“Over the last two years, we have gone from two aircraft to five, so we thought that was the tipping point to having a dedicated maintenance company,” he said in a comment to The Courier Mail.
ASC director Richard Perceval said the Nauru contract would lead to the employment of more local engineers in Brisbane, adding that ASC would employ more than 50 people at Brisbane Airport and the company’s facility in Caboolture.
“We want to do the maintenance in Brisbane using local labour,” he told The Courier Mail.
“A lot of work has gone offshore in the past and we want to bring some of it back.”
According to ASC’s website, the new service centre is capable of accommodating aircraft up to and including the newest Boeing B737 MAX and Airbus A320 NEO, with Nauru Airlines as its initial customer.
“ASC continues to expand its business and engineering capability under our CASR 145 approval,” the website reads.
“Further growth is planned for additional aircraft types with base maintenance capability targeted for late 2016.”