RBI Hawker, a joint venture between Hawker Pacific Airservices, a Jet Aviation company, and Bell, has received Part 145 maintenance organisation approval from the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) for its new rotary blade repair facility in Brisbane, Australia. This approval authorises the company to commence operations.

The RBI Hawker Australia facility is a new 1,000 sqm hangar based in Eagle Farm, Brisbane. The facility offers advanced repair and static balance techniques for rotor blade repair on all Bell helicopter models and Leonardo AW139 and AW109 models.

RBI Hawker has been providing maintenance support to both commercial and military helicopter operators in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and wider regions from Dubai since 2005. The company is an authorised Bell CSF and Leonardo service centre with an extensive OEM-approved standard and expanded repair portfolio. The company is working to extend these same services and capabilities to Australian and Pacific operators.

“With this expansion, our goal is to ensure access to rotary repair services for customers in the Asia Pacific region, says Ian D’Arcy, Jet Aviation’s VP for north east Asia. “We have continued to expand our service offering throughout our 15 years of operation and this CASA approval demonstrates our ongoing commitment to service support and excellence.”

Brendan McDonald, RBI Hawker’s operations manager in Australia, adds: “Customers are increasingly looking for more local, accessible services in the Asia Pacific region. Our new facility will help us remain the customer’s partner of choice, and we look forward to welcoming helicopter owners and operators to our new Australian location.”