Budget airline EasyJet is set to acquire Malta-based aircraft maintenance company SR Technics.
EasyJet plc, Europe’s second-largest budget airline, notified the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) of its intention to buy SR Technics, with the authority giving notice of the one-week time window for objections to be filed.
SR Technics Malta Ltd, a prominent maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company within the aviation sector, originally opened its base in Malta in 2010 and EasyJet is one of its main clients.
It recently moved into its cutting-edge six-bay hangar facility at Ħal-Farruġ, which spans 40,000 square metres, with more expansion plans in the pipeline for the next two years. It invested over €42 million in its new facility, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Abela in March 2022.
The Zurich-based company currently employs 430 professionals specialising in comprehensive heavy base maintenance services for the Airbus A320 family narrow-body fleet.
SR Technics was initially set up as the technical department of the former Swiss Air but was established as a separate company in 1997.
Luton-based EasyJet plc is a European point-to-point airline with a fleet of 336 Airbus A320 family aircraft, operating 1,018 routes across 35 countries and 155 airports. The airline also sells package holidays and travel insurance to customers on an agency basis.
In its notice, issued in terms of the Control of Concentrations Regulations and published also in The Malta Government Gazette, the director general of the Office for Competition invited interested third parties to submit their written objections on this notified concentration within seven days.
'Valuable customer since 2010'
Last October, SR Technics Malta announced that it had secured a new three-year contract with EasyJet, which it described as a “valuable customer since 2010”.
“We are extremely pleased and honoured to secure a new three-year contract with our high valued and important customer. This goes to show the incredible relationship we have cultivated as we marked the 13th year of collaboration,” SR Technics Malta general manager, Daniel Galea had said on that occasion.
Brendan McConnellogue, director of engineering and maintenance at EasyJet, said the airline was delighted to be continuing its longstanding relationship with SR Technics in Malta, “who have demonstrated to us they are the right partner to continue supporting our industry-leading maintenance operations for our modern fleet of over 300 Airbus A320 aircraft”.