Story ID: 376
Gulfstream Opens MRO Expansion at Savannah HQ
By: Chad Trautvetter
Caption: Gulfstream Aerospace cut the ribbon today on a 202,000-sq-ft/18,766-sq-m MRO facility expansion at its Savannah, Georgia headquarters.
Word Count: 483
Gulfstream Aerospace recently officially opened a 202,000-sq-ft/18,766-sq-m MRO facility expansion at its Savannah, Georgia headquarters as part of a wider initiative to further bolster its owned service center network. Located on the east side of Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, the new $55 million building gives Gulfstream more than one million square feet (almost 93,000 sq m) of dedicated MRO hangar, office, and back shop space in Savannah alone.

“We are very excited about this expansion, which follows the recent entry into service of the G500 and G600,” said Gulfstream president Mark Burns. “To help ensure those aircraft and the rest of our growing fleet continue to have the best service and support in the industry, we built and staffed this facility.”

The expansion was announced in April 2018 and is expected to result in approximately 200 customer-support-related jobs over several years, some of which will be filled by graduates of Savannah Technical College’s aviation technology branch. Its new Gulfstream East Campus offers operators a range of services, including aircraft-on-ground resources, hourly and calendar-driven airframe inspections, avionics installations, and interior refurbishments.

This move comes on the heels of Gulfstream's completion of a service center expansion in August at its facility in Appleton, Wisconsin. It also has another service center opening scheduled for later this or early next year in Van Nuys, California.

Meanwhile, Gulfstream and sister company Jet Aviation broke ground this spring on an expansion of the latter's FBO at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. The addition, on the northwest side of the airfield, consists of a new 40,000-sq-ft hangar and 10,000 sq ft of tenant office space, plus a new 30,000-gallon-capacity fuel farm. As part of the joint project, Gulfstream is adding a new service center at the location, including a 115,000-sq-ft hangar. Both facilities are expected to be operational in the first quarter of next year.

In total, the aircraft manufacturer will have completed three service center expansions and opened two new service centers in 2019 and 2020, adding approximately 790,000 sq ft/73,393 sq m of dedicated MRO hangars, offices, and back shops in the U.S. and Europe that can service the 2,800-strong worldwide Gulfstream fleet.

“Our customers choose to return to Gulfstream facilities for their service and support because they value the relationship and expertise only we can provide,” said Burns. “By increasing the number of maintenance facilities and combining them with our fleet of rapid-response vehicles and Gulfstream field and airborne support teams technicians, we’re offering our customers more service and support options, more accessibility and more flexibility.”

Gulfstream’s Savannah MRO operations are certified by the FAA, EASA, and China CAAC, as well as 20 other civil aviation authorities. Last year, Gulfstream’s nearly 680,000-sq-ft/63,174-sq-m Savannah service center—the largest business aviation-dedicated MRO facility in the world—logged more than 1,500 aircraft visits.
, full_html