Freezing winter weather is no longer a concern for the aircraft engineers of Lufthansa Technik Budapest. A huge, specially designed inflatable hangar has been opened at the engineering firm’s Budapest Airport base, large enough to facilitate the indoor parking of an Airbus A320 or a Boeing 737.
René Droese, Property Director, Budapest Airport; Dietmar Focke, CEO, Lufthansa Technik Budapest; and José Antonio Sanz, Commercial Director, Buildair, in front of Budapest Airport’s new inflatable hangar – the first in Europe to be constructed purely for civil aviation.
The unusual technical solution has been made necessary by the high level of orders being received by Ferihegy-based Lufthansa Technik Budapest for the winter period, meaning the capacity of the existing hangar – which can accommodate up to five mid-size aircraft simultaneously – proved insufficient.
The company, which makes maintenance overhauls on 30 medium-range aircraft every year, is joint-owned by Budapest Airport and Lufthansa Technik, who together pioneered the erection of a temporary inflatable hangar purely for the purpose of civil aviation – the first of its kind in Europe.
“The Budapest base of Lufthansa Technik is receiving more and more orders – we perform annual maintenance and/or thirty-day overhauls for an increasing number of airlines, In aviation, the winter period is traditionally the peak season for repair and maintenance and we can only meet the increased demand with this extraordinary solution in the winter of 2014/2015,” said Dietmar Focke, the recently-appointed CEO of Lufthansa Technik Budapest. “Hungarian and foreign professionals working here are doing a great job, and thanks to the inflatable hangar we can create additional high-value jobs at our Budapest base where only a few days ago we celebrated the handover of the 100th aircraft of Norwegian Airlines repaired by us.”
“The inflatable hangar is operated on the basis of the same principle as inflatable covers for tennis courts or swimming pools, but our product is much bigger and is capable of withholding significantly stronger loads,” José Antonio Sanz, Commercial Director, Buildair, emphasised.
Produced by Buildair of Spain, the hangar is already operated at Getafe Air Base near Madrid, where Airbus’ division for the assembly of military transport and tanker planes is based. The facility has a 4000sqm footprint, and is expected to operate for six months in Ferihegy, or as long as weather conditions make it necessary.
“This type of hangar has already passed the test in Spain, but in Budapest we now have an opportunity to test the durability of the Buildair structure in more demanding winter conditions as well,” explained José Antonio Sanz, Commercial Director, Buildair. “The inflatable hangar is operated on the basis of the same principle as inflatable covers for tennis courts or swimming pools, but our product is much bigger and is capable of withholding significantly stronger loads.”
The inflatable hangar has already proven its reliability, safely withholding winds of 70-80 km/hour in the middle of October a few days after it was erected.
“I am happy to see that our long-term cooperation with Lufthansa Technik has reached a new stage,” added René Droese, Property Director, Budapest Airport. Last year we handed over a 2000sqm spare-parts warehouse, and this year’s novelty is the inflatable hangar. Our next project in the aviation MRO-business is the construction of a dedicated Wizz Air maintenance hangar. Budapest Airport is ready to support the operation and success of its long-term airport partners with sustainable investments.”
