MAAS Aviation, recognised as an expert in aircraft painting and exterior coatings, continues to see mounting optimism in the aviation sector as it reports a buoyant start to 2022. Chief Commercial Officer, Richard Marston, comments: “The industry is seeing strong post-pandemic growth as travel restrictions ease and we go back to everyday life. With more aircraft returning to the skies, the global MAAS teams have been busy with programmes for new and existing customers throughout the first quarter of this year. With the 21/22 winter painting season coming to an end, there is plenty to talk about.”
Statistics from IATA back up Marston’s positive outlook, with the trade association reporting that there has been industry-wide growth in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPKs) of 82.3% year-on-year in January 2022.
MAAS has continued to support established customers Ryanair and easyJet with their programmes, repainting Ryanair’s Boeing B737-800 aircraft at its new Kaunas facility this season and easyJet’s Airbus A320-family aircraft from its Maastricht paint bays.
“We have also been pleased to welcome some significant new clients to our paint shops this quarter” adds Tracy Jarman, Sales Manager Europe. “We have painted five Airbus A320s for Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling. The final aircraft in this current programme for Vueling will complete its makeover at our Maastricht facility later this month and we look forward to continuing this partnership later in the year.”
Sky Alps is a relative newcomer to the scene, founded in 2020, the Italian airline operated its first flights in June 2021. MAAS has aided in its continuing operations with the completion of fresh liveries for two of its Dash-8 Q400 turboprops.
MAAS also partnered with Greek carrier Aegean Airlines, completing two end-of-lease repaints for an A320 and an A321. Corendon Airlines is another new customer, with the MRO recently refinishing two B737-800 aircraft for the Turkish carrier, one of which is a special ‘Hull City’ football club livery.
Condor’s recent rebrand has grabbed the attention of the aviation industry with its bold striped liveries and MAAS was proud to have completed the paint jobs on the first two A321s in this programme. Jarman explains, “This project was top secret and had to be kept totally under wraps until the full launch of its new livery in early April, but this strategy paid off with the newly painted fleet making a big impact when revealed. The multi-coloured aircraft are designed to emulate the feelings of summer holidays, with the yellow stripes representing the sun and blue the sea. Condor will be continuing to roll out more of its sensational new look over the summer season.”
