Mesa, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hi Fly (5K, Beja), opened a maintenance, repair, and overhaul base at the group's home airport at Berau in Portugal.

The group said the new facility would be authorised to perform line and base maintenance on all in-production Airbus aircraft families except for A380-800s. It will be able to perform A- and C-checks, engine replacements, cabin modifications, and other services. Mesa will maintain the fleet of Hi Fly and Hi Fly Malta (3L, Malta International), but will also provide services to third-party airlines.

"Beja is a prime location for aircraft maintenance, and with this additional capacity, we hope not only to keep up with the strong growth of Hi Fly’s fleet but also to acquire new customers mainly from Europe and Africa. It’s a big project for the Group, and we’re looking forward to welcoming our fleet to this fantastic facility. Mesa invested EUR30 million euros (USD36.5 million) in the project, which will create about 150 jobs in its first three years of activity," Hi Fly and Mesa President Paulo Mirpuri said.

Mesa already operates MRO facilities at Lisbon, Brussels National, and Brisbane International airports. It holds a Part 145 certificate for A320ceo, A330ceo, A330neo, A340, and A380 aircraft families.

Hi Fly and Hi Fly Malta operate exclusively Airbus aircraft, namely two A319-100s, two A321-200s, one A330-200, three A330-300s, two A330-900s, and six A340-300s, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.