AIRPORT: ADI expands on Certified Aviation Services business
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FILE PHOTO
This file photo from 2007 shows the inside of a hangar at San Bernardino International Airport used by Certified Aviation Services.
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A new aircraft maintenance firm based at San Bernardino International Airport has global aspirations and plans to more than double its workforce by 2013 after recently buying assets from Certified Aviation Services LLC.
Aviation & Defense Inc., owned by an international businessman, bought assets from CAS in December and kept its managers, including Jim Anderson, now president, and Mike Scanlon, vice president of operations.
Since the sale, Aviation & Defense has already hired more than 35 people and the company is looking for another 20 maintenance mechanics with experience working on Airbus 320s, Boeing 737s and C-130 aircraft as it readies for multiple contracts.
The company is finalizing a new two-year contract with Virgin America and crafting an agreement with Spirit Airlines as it looks at developing more work with Allegiant Air and other commercial airlines with narrow-body aircraft, Anderson said.
Another pending agreement would bring a C-130 military aircraft to the airport next month, the first of four that could land at the airport this year for heavy maintenance that sometimes takes four to 13 months, depending on the aircraft. The work requires skilled mechanics who may have once worked for Lockheed Aircraft Services in Ontario, which closed in 1996, said Anderson, who had also worked at Lockheed’s Ontario facility. Mechanics often found jobs in Palmdale after the closure, he said.
“The goal is to continue to bring those people back here if they’re willing to come,” he said.
Aviation & Defense also hopes to know next week if it won a three-year contract with Raytheon for Boeing 747 testing, he said.
Anderson said the new owner has a long-term vision for the company and how it will grow, including plans to bring electronics and aviation-related manufacturing operations to San Bernardino.
Hector Guerrero, an international businessman with companies in Asia, Mexico and Peru and owner of Aviation & Defense Inc., was interested in expanding his businesses with an aircraft maintenance firm when he approached CAS. The terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Certified Aviation Services, based in Rancho Cucamonga, has regularly maintained aircraft including Virgin America’s fleet of A-320 airplanes at the airport since 2005. The company’s mechanics and staff are stationed at 23 airports nationwide to fix aircraft.
CAS president John Landherr said his company agreed to sell a segment of the business in order to focus on line maintenance, aviation repair work that requires an aircraft to be out of service for a shorter period of time.
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