MTU to begin Serbia plant construction

NEWS FLASH

Leading German aircraft engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines will begin construction of its new repair facility (pictured) at an industrial park near Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport this year, with the opening scheduled for 2023. “This industrial park definitely has growth potential. It could well attract our suppliers and partners”, Rainer Becker, Project Manager and Managing Director of MTU Maintenance Serbia, said. He added, “In the first phase, we plan to have capacity for 470.000 repair hours per year. All the planning is being done in close collaboration with the responsible authorities in Serbia to ensure that the new building complies with all regulations and specifications”. He and his team are also making every effort to extend OEM [Original Equipment Manufacturer] and customer licenses for the repair of engine parts to the new location. Applications for the necessary approvals by aviation authorities such as Germany’s Federal Aviation Authority must also be filed.

A team of about thirty MTU specialists in repair technologies, quality, logistics, finance and human resources is already working to establish the new maintenance location. The MTU office in Belgrade is now up and running, and the project team has defined the plant and process technologies. This means it will be possible to place early orders for particularly complex machinery with long delivery times. All work areas had to be determined and the building layout had to be defined accordingly, so that the commissioned architects could work on the plans for the shop. To coincide with the construction of the new repair facility, MTU is starting to recruit suitable employees and train future skilled workers. In order to support existing qualifications, the shop will offer on-the-job training in the future. Last year, MTU and the government of Serbia signed a declaration of cooperation to establish close collaboration on the dual-track training of skilled workers - as practiced in Germany. This guarantees the technical foundations required for a high-tech industry such as aviation. While the on-the-job training will initially take place at MTU locations in Germany and Canada, the aim is to conduct this training exclusively in Serbia from 2024. By 2027, the new repair location is expected to grow to around 440 employees.