The French group Satys has just launched the construction of a new aircraft workshop at the Budapest airport, Hungary. A site with a total area of ​​4,000 square meters spread over two sheds for a height of 17 meters. The sheds are dedicated to the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 single-aisle aircraft. This establishment “is the result of an agreement signed between the Satys Group and the Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport. The latter will ensure fundings for the two buildings rented to Satys for nine million euros, the participation of Satys amounting to one million euros devoted essentially to the equipment of the paint rooms”. The choice of the Budapest airport is based on two elements already generating revenue: the presence of the low-cost airline Wizzair which operates a fleet of 119 Airbus single-aisle aircraft as well as that of two stakeholders of the MRO sector, Lufthansa Technik and the Hungarian state-owned company Aeroplex. All this was a MRO business area hitherto devoid of an aircraft painting site.

As a result, the Satys group can count on re-painting activities on no less than sixty aircraft in the first year of operation of the Budapest site, whose commissioning is scheduled for autumn 2020. Already established in Slovakia, the French group has therefore decided to strengthen in Eastern Europe with the Budapest site. A market that “already accounts for nearly 15% of Satys' sales”, says Thierry Melet, Managing Director of the Aftermarket & VIP Painting Division of the French group. And a market “which is growing strongly due to the development of airlines’ fleets and the need for them to repaint their aircraft every six years on average”. We aims at doubling the turnover of the activity Aftermarket & VIP Painting in three years”, adds Thierry Melet.