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STANDARDAERO’S OPERATION AT PORT WILL SUPPORT LATEST ROLLS-ROYCE ENGINE PROJECT

Company’s big operation at Port will support latest Rolls-Royce aircraft engine project.

04-10-2018

Continued job growth expected in the months ahead.

 
StandardAero

SAN ANTONIO — StandardAero, one of the world’s leading independent providers of support services for commercial and military aircraft, continues to significantly grow its operations in the Alamo City. 

The Arizona-based company announced a new 20-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for several military aircraft engine models through 2038.  

As a result of this agreement, StandardAero’s location at Port San Antonio will be among those that will see a sizable expansion in workloads supporting engines that power C-130 aircraft. The plane is a pillar of military air transport operations around the world.

This is the third major announcement in recent months reflecting the growth of StandardAero’s location in San Antonio. 

The company first established its San Antonio operation nearly 20 years ago as it retained several civilian workers at the former Kelly Air Force Base and entered into its initial military aircraft engine maintenance contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense. 

In December, StandardAero announced a five-year extension of its longstanding contract with the U.S. government for maintenance services on the T-56 engine line, which also powers C-130 military cargo aircraft. Much of that work will continue to take place in San Antonio.

The latest announcement of a direct agreement with engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce further expands the San Antonio site’s military workload of aircraft engines operated by the U.S. and allied military forces.

In January, StandardAero announced that its San Antonio location will also experience significant growth in its support of commercial aircraft engines. The operation at the Port will be among StandardAero’s principal sites to maintain engines that power the Boeing 757 platform—one of the world’s leading passenger and commercial cargo aircraft. That recent agreement, also with engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce, will run through 2040.

“StandardAero has been on a solid upward trajectory in our community and has been a leader in growing our aerospace industry sector,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

“This latest success was truly a group effort. It was a collaboration between the City, the Port, StandardAero and many stakeholders to ensure that marquee names in aviation based in our community are primed to capture new global opportunities and create even more jobs right here in one of the most dynamic—and competitive—industries in the world,” he added.

“Big things are happening at our San Antonio facility, and the support of our local partners has laid the foundation that is giving us the flexibility to compete globally and deliver the highest quality of service to our clients,” said Mark Buongiorno, StandardAero''s Vice President and General Manager of the San Antonio site.

StandardAero jet test cell

StandardAero’s San Antonio location includes a highly specialized facility that allows the company to test the performance of aircraft engines before they are returned to military and commercial aircraft operators.

Buongiorno also indicated that, thanks to the talent of its local workforce and the operational support provided by the company’s local partners, StandardAero has consistently earned high marks for delivering engines back to its clients that consistently perform with greater efficiency than when those units were first manufactured.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled for StandardAero and the positive impact that this news will have throughout San Antonio for years to come as good people continue to apply their talent and perform great work here,” said Jim Perschbach, Interim President and CEO of Port San Antonio. 

“Today’s announcement, along with the similar good news of other long-term contracts earned by StandardAero in recent weeks, underscore why this industry is so important at the Port and throughout our community,” added Perschbach. “These engines will be in service for decades. In the process they will create good jobs across generations—from hands-on mechanics and technicians to the engineers based right here who continuously innovate and lead StandardAero’s efforts to provide service that goes above-and-beyond.”

“Port San Antonio spans nearly 2,000 acres on the land that was once Kelly Air Force Base,” said San Antonio City Councilman Rey Saldaña, whose District 4 includes all of the main Port campus, including the facilities where StandardAero is located. 

“I applaud StandardAero’s employees for having performed exemplary work over the past 20 years. The quality of their services is clearly in demand around the world and creating new opportunities for today’s and future generations in our community," he added. “I greatly look forward to more announcements like this one and the creation of jobs for generations yet to come in the aerospace sector and related advanced technologies that continue to flourish at the Port and throughout our community.”

The workloads that comprise the three recent announcements between StandardAero and the Department of Defense and Rolls-Royce will be assigned to various company facilities around the U.S; the San Antonio location will be a principal center where that work will be performed.

Over 300 women and men already work at the Port San Antonio site, including aircraft mechanics, engineers and administrative personnel. A substantial number of new local jobs are expected in the months ahead as the local site coordinates the arrival of the additional work under the three agreements.

The company operates within highly specialized buildings spanning nearly 700,000 square feet on the Port campus.  Those facilities include an array of structures where the company tests the performance of the engines it maintains before they are returned to military and commercial customers.

Information on current and upcoming employment opportunities with StandardAero San Antonio can be found on the Port’s website at www.demobox.me/jobs.

In addition to having retained scores of workers who formerly served aircraft at Kelly Air Force Base, StandardAero has relied on the Alamo Aerospace Academy to train and recruit the newest generation of talent. 

Established in 2001, the dual-credit program, part of Alamo Colleges, has provided high school students from throughout the region with hands-on, college-level training as aircraft technicians. Following summer internships with StandardAero, and upon graduating high school, many of those students have launched careers with the company.

Several of the Aerospace Academy’s early graduates have been StandardAero employees for over a decade and will be among those leading the efforts to support the newest workloads coming to the Port San Antonio site.


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