Compass Adds Line Maintenance in Louisville
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By Elyse Moody
Compass Airlines can service three of its Embraer 175 aircraft per night at its new Louisville, Ky., maintenance hub, which officially opened June 2. The $9.5 million facility currently provides line maintenance services and features a 42,720 sq. ft. hangar, 11, 416 sq. ft. of back shops and offices, an 80,601 sq. ft. concrete apron and more than 33,000 sq. ft. of parking and roadways.
As part of Tuesday's unveiling, Compass displayed its first Embraer 175 painted in Delta colors. Compass, which formerly served as a connection carrier for Northwest Airlines, became part of Delta Connection last October when federal regulators cleared Delta's acquisition of Northwest. Leading Edge Aviation Services in Greenville, Miss., is repainting Compass' aircraft.
The Louisville operation eventually will employ 70 to maintain Compass' fleet of 36 Embraer 175 aircraft. At present, the facility isn't considering marketing its maintenance capabilities to other carriers, but that's not out of the question, says Delta Connection representative Kristin Baur. She says that Compass continues to review offering maintenance services to third-party customers "as a future possibility."
The move to bring Compass' maintenance in-house began in June 2007, when Northwest issued a request for proposal to build a three-bay maintenance hangar. In September 2007, Northwest announced it chose Louisville International Airport, with a plan sponsored by the Commonwealth's Cabinet for Economic Development, Metro Louisville and Greater Louisville, as the site for its new maintenance base.
"We are pleased to have such a great location for our hangar," says Baur. "The partnership with the state of Kentucky and the Louisville community, combined with the community support, the existing airport infrastructure and its proximity to all of the hubs we serve [Memphis, Tenn.; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Detroit, Mich.], definitely contributes to our future success."
