First Air Canada Jet In Line For Maintenance At Former Northwest Airlines Facility

Jet aircraft maintenance is once again being performed at the former Northwest Airlines facility in Duluth, MN. AAR Aircraft Services welcomed its first airplane into a refurbished hangar Monday ... an Air Canada A320 in for service.

AAR and the City of Duluth announced in April that the company would be moving into the facilities vacated by Northwest Airlines in 2005. The Duluth News-Tribune reports that AAR's MRO operation will begin with a single line performing heavy maintenance on one airplane at a time ... a process that takes 15 to 45 days. As the operations ramps up over the next year, the company plans three additional maintenance lines and the addition of 135 jobs. The total employment is expected to reach 225 skilled workers.

AAR signed a five-year contract with Air Canada for maintenance, which will keep the facility at full capacity without having to solicit additional business.

In a related development, the paper reports that the Duluth Economic Development Authority has agreed to a reduction in AAR's rent for the facility of $360,190 through January 1, 2017. The company is operating rent-free until the end of the year. It will eventually pay nearly $34,000 per month, with increases possible.

FMI: www.duluthmn.gov/development/deda/index.cfm, www.aarcorp.com