North American regional airline Skywest has announced an agreement with fixed-base operator (FBO) ACI Jet to lease its San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport (SBP) hangar as a maintenance base.
Skywest operations at the 17,000 square feet hangar, which was previously an American Airlines maintenance hangar, are expected to provide more than 40 new local jobs.
California-based ACI Jet, which also provides maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO), renovated the hangar after acquiring it to house up to five regional aircraft simultaneously.
It will now support Skywest’s fleet of almost 500 regional jets for overnight maintenance, with the hangar expected to be operational in September.
“ACI has been built by Californians committed to California and this is a great example of how we work to best serve the communities we support,” said ACI Jet CEO William Borgsmiller.
“We are excited about our relationship with Skywest Airlines and the opportunities they bring in the form of jobs to our San Luis Obispo community.”
Borgsmiller added that ACI Jet is developing an aviation maintenance program with local community colleges to serve as a pipeline for Skywest and also ACI Jet, which recently became an authorized service facility for Bombardier Business Aircraft.