S7 Engineering, a Russian MRO specialist in the S7 Group built around Siberia (S7) Airline, is to open its branch in the city of Caucasus Mineral Waters (Russian Kavkazkie Mineralnye Vody).

The company has applied to EASA for certification of its new branch. S7 Engineering general director Eugeny Kochetov said EASA inspectors visited the new location and that EASA approval is expected in January 2011.

Initially, the new facility will employ 25 people. The Caucasus branch is created on the ground of the former Civil Aviation Repair Plant no. 411, which used to perform heavy maintenance on Tupolev Tu-154 jetliners. «We hire a hangar section that was previously used for the Tu-154 maintenance», Kochetov said.

Next step will be adding EASA approval for Airbus A320 maintenance, which is planned for May 2011, and then for Boeing 737 Next Generation, by the year-end.