{"id":14966,"date":"2020-02-28T18:39:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-28T18:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=14966"},"modified":"2020-02-28T18:41:23","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T18:41:23","slug":"american-airlines-announces-550-million-investment-to-its-tulsa-maintenance-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/oklahoma\/american-airlines-announces-550-million-investment-to-its-tulsa-maintenance-base\/%20","title":{"rendered":"American Airlines Announces $550 Million Investment to its Tulsa Maintenance Base"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Photo above – Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares the historic investment announcement with team members at Tech Ops \u2013 Tulsa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Airlines announced today it will invest $550\nmillion at its Base Maintenance facility in Tulsa (Tech Ops \u2013 Tulsa). It is\nAmerican\u2019s largest Base Maintenance facility and is an integral part of operating\nthe carrier\u2019s fleet of nearly 1,000 mainline aircraft safely and reliably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech Ops \u2013 Tulsa is home to more than 5,500 team members \u2014\n600 of those positions were added in 2019 \u2014 and conducts nearly half of the\nairline\u2019s overall maintenance work. The new project includes construction of a\nnew widebody-capable hangar and base support building. The investment also\nprovides for improvements to the existing infrastructure, including roof\nreplacements, utility and IT upgrades, and ramp repairs. This is the largest\ninvestment ever made at a maintenance location in American\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This investment underscores American\u2019s long-term commitment\nto the Tech Ops \u2013 Tulsa team, State of Oklahoma and City of Tulsa by making\nimprovements to ensure success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe American team in Tulsa and around the world is the best\nin the business when it comes to operating the safest and most reliable fleet\nof commercial aircraft,\u201d said American\u2019s Chairman and CEO Doug Parker. \u201cTulsa\nhas been core to American\u2019s operation for more than 70 years, and this\ninvestment in the base, along with the new positions we added at Tech Ops \u2013\nTulsa in 2019, will ensure our customers can continue to rely on our fleet as\nthe safest and most reliable for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Hangar 7 and the Tulsa Base.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The new 193,000-square-foot hangar will be able to hold two\nwidebody aircraft \u2014 or up to six narrowbody aircraft \u2014 and will replace two\nexisting hangars that can no longer fully accommodate the size of American\u2019s\ncurrent aircraft. This will allow team members to continue maintenance work on\nthe more than 900 aircraft that visit the site annually while also adding to\nthe widebody hangar capacity in American\u2019s system. The 132,000-square-foot base\nsupport building will include offices for teams in administrative functions for\naircraft overhaul, engineering and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith this historic investment, American Airlines continues\nto display their commitment to Oklahoma. As one of the largest employers in our\nstate, American Airlines plays an integral role in our economy and provides\nquality jobs for our citizens,\u201d Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said. \u201cI am proud\nthat Oklahoma is one of the top states in the nation for the aviation and\naerospace industry, and I am honored to have American Airlines choose Oklahoma,\nonce again, to grow their business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oklahoma Governor Stitt, City of Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and\nTulsa Regional Chamber President and CEO Mike Neal joined American leadership\nand nearly 2,000 team members this morning at a ceremony to unveil the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis investment marks the largest single capital investment\nin our city\u2019s history while also reflecting the long-term commitment of\nAmerican Airlines to Tulsa,\u201d Bynum said. \u201cAs a city, we are grateful that one\nof the largest employers in our community is a true partner with the kind of\nforesight that will create more opportunity in the next era of the aerospace\nsector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The $550 million investment will take approximately seven\nyears to complete and will involve upgrades to nearly every building. The new\nhangar and base support building construction is expected to begin in early\n2021 and will take approximately 18 months to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there were any doubts about American’s long-term\ncommitment to Tulsa, this transformative investment should put them to rest\nonce and for all,\u201d Neal said. \u201cThrough the Chamber-led regional economic\ndevelopment partnership Tulsa\u2019s Future, and in collaboration with the City of\nTulsa and State of Oklahoma, we\u2019ve been able to support American\u2019s continued\ngrowth in northeast Oklahoma. It\u2019s been a personal privilege to work with\nAmerican\u2019s leadership team and Tulsa-area employees for more than 14 years, and\nwe at the Chamber look forward to further strengthening this partnership for\ndecades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investing in Tulsa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American has proudly maintained the world\u2019s largest\ncommercial aviation maintenance facility in Tulsa since 1946, when it moved its\nmain maintenance base there from New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport. Today, Tech Ops\n\u2013 Tulsa is home to 22 buildings, including 3.3 million square feet of hangar\nand shop space positioned on 330 acres at Tulsa International Airport. It is a\nhub for American\u2019s Base Maintenance system, which also includes key maintenance\nhangars at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Charlotte Douglas\nInternational Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport. American performs more\nmaintenance work in-house than any other airline, due in part to its strong\nmaintenance system infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The modernization plan is the latest step following a period\nof growth for the Tulsa base. American insourced CFM56-5B engine overhaul work there\nin 2018. In 2019, American and the City of Tulsa invested in a new tail slot\nmodification for Hangar 2D at the base to allow space for larger aircraft. The\nteam began maintenance work on the first scheduled line of Airbus A319 fleet as\nwell as scheduled maintenance on the Boeing 787 fleet, and component repair\nwork was insourced to the base\u2019s Wheel and Brake Center. To support the\nadditional work, American has added more than 600 maintenance positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strengthening Tulsa and surrounding communities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With more than 5,500 team members, American is one of\nTulsa\u2019s largest private employers. The carrier has a long history of supporting\nSTEM initiatives in the region \u2014 along with technical school partnerships that\ninclude Tulsa Technology Center and Spartan School of Aeronautics. American\ncontinues to support hands-on learning and building a trained workforce\npipeline with the previous donations of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft to\nOklahoma State University, Tulsa Technology Center, Tulsa Air and Space Museum\nand CareerTech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through its Tulsa Community Relations Regional Council,\nAmerican has developed strong partnerships with local organizations, including\nthe Tulsa chapter of the American Red Cross, Community Food Bank of Eastern\nOklahoma, Tulsa Air and Space Museum, and CAP Tulsa. The carrier is a key\nsponsor for community events, including Flight Night Tulsa, which has supported\nSTEM learning opportunities for 180,000 Oklahoma students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, American was named Equity Champion by Mosaic, the\ndiversity and inclusion council of the Tulsa Regional Chamber, for\ndemonstrating strategic and measured collaboration with key partners both\ninside and outside the organization to ensure sustainable success. American was\nalso recently recognized by the Owasso Chamber of Commerce with the 2019\nEconomic Impact Award for the recent growth and overall impact of Tech Ops \u2013\nTulsa on the city of Owasso, a suburb of Tulsa, for more than 70 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo above – Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO of American Airlines, shares the historic investment announcement with team members at Tech Ops \u2013 Tulsa. American Airlines announced today it will invest $550 million at its Base Maintenance facility in Tulsa (Tech Ops \u2013 Tulsa). It is American\u2019s largest Base Maintenance facility and is an integral […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-oklahoma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/CEO-Doug-Parker.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14966"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14972,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14966\/revisions\/14972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}