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• Construction is scheduled to start in May 2018
• The joint venture of Lufthansa Technik and MTU Aero Engines will start opera-tions in 2020

Hamburg, Munich, March 26, 2018 – Starting in May 2018, one of the most advanced maintenance facilities in the aerospace industry will be erected in Jasionka (province of Subcarpathia) in the south-east of Poland. EME Aero (Engine Maintenance Europe), a joint venture of Lufthansa Technik AG and MTU Aero Engines AG, has officially acquired the building site for the planned maintenance shop in Poland’s Aviation Valley near Rzeszów airport. The two parties to the joint venture will invest a total amount of around 150 million euros in the region by 2020.

EME Aero sp. z o.o. will have a workforce of around 800 employees in the future and is slated to be up and running in 2020. The planned annual capacity is over 400 shop visits of PW1000G-series geared turbofan engines, which power the Airbus A320neo family of aircraft and other airliners. Says Derrick Siebert, EME Aero CEO: “ We have made a big step forward in our project of providing maintenance for an entirely new generation of commercial engines in Europe. We are very pleased. All the more so as the location in Jasionka in Poland’s Aviation Valley offers us the optimum infrastructure for our new MRO company.” And Uwe Zachau, EME Aero COO, adds: “The acquisition of the land marks a key milestone for us. Now we can press ahead at full speed with the construction of the new joint shop.”

MTU Aero Engines has already gained very positive experience with setting up a company in Poland. MTU Aero Engines Polska, a subsidiary of MTU Aero Engines, opened shop in 2009 – quite close to the place where the new shop will go up. In 2013, work on an expansion of the Rzeszów facility commenced. MTU’s Polish subsidiary carries out development and production activities and is responsible for the assembly of the low-pressure turbine for PW1000G-series engines, a capability it added to its portfolio in early 2015.

For Lufthansa Technik, the new JV is the second big move in stepping up its activities in Po-land: In September 2017, the foundation stone was laid in Środa Śląska for its joint venture company with engine manufacturer GE Aviation that will overhaul GEnx-2B engines and, later on, GE9X engines. Lufthansa Technik also has many years of experience maintaining Pratt & Whitney engines. In July 2016, Lufthansa Technik became a member of the MRO network for the U.S. engine maker’s geared turbofan (GTF). The network offers the full range of MRO services for PW1000G engines. This additional business has no impact on the workload at Lufthansa Technik’s existing facilities.

Lufthansa Technik and MTU have been partnering in a 50-50 joint venture in Malaysia since 2003. Airfoil Services Sdn. Bhd. (ASSB) near Kuala Lumpur specializes in the repair of low-pressure turbine and high-pressure compressor airfoils.

About Lufthansa Technik
With some 35 subsidiaries and affiliates, the Lufthansa Technik Group is one of the leading providers of technical aircraft services in the world. Certified internationally as maintenance, production and design organization, the company has a workforce of more than 25,000 employees. Lufthansa Technik’s portfolio covers the entire range of services for commercial and VIP/special mission aircraft, engines, components and landing gears in the areas of digital fleet support, maintenance, repair, overhaul, modification, completion and conversion as well as the manufacture of innovative cabin products.

About MTU Aero Engines
MTU Aero Engines AG is Germany’s leading engine manufacturer. Some 30 percent of today’s active aircraft in service worldwide have MTU components on board. In the commercial maintenance sector the company ranks among the top 5 service providers for commercial aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines. The activities are combined under the roof of MTU Maintenance. MTU operates a network of locations around the globe. In fiscal 2017, the company had a workforce of some 10,000 employees and posted consolidated sales of approximately 5 billion euros.