newstodate.aero

Oct 20, 2022 (newstodate): Lithuania's Siauliai Airport had harbored ambitions for seeing the first P2F center in Eastern Europe opened by Israel Aerospace Industries at the airport.
   However, Serbia beat the Lithuanian hopes as Israel Aerospace Industries is now instead preparing for opening Eastern Europe’s first wide-body conversion site at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, planning to start three months of P2F conversion works on the first Boeing 767-300ER passenger aircraft that arrived at the airport already in September this year.
   But plans for Israel Aerospace Industries to open a P2F center at Siauliai Airport are indeed very much alive..
   -Yes, construction works on the coming new facility at the airport were delayed, first due to Covid-19, and now also the war in Ukraine, says Povilas Podaigia, Aviatic MRO CEO.
   -Actually, the construction works are now around 60 percent completed, and we expect operations to start by Q1/Q2, 2023.
   Last year, the Lithuanian company Aviatic MRO deepened its cooperation with IAI to become a licensed partner of IAI and, together with the Israel-based company, Aviatic MRO will provide the service of converting B737NG aircraft from passenger to cargo configuration.
   -Siauliai Airport is of interest to us because of the promising location for the development of our operations in Europe, and Lithuania as a market with a good investment environment and many qualified specialists in engineering and other fields. In addition, the country is already well-known in the aviation market, Refael Matalon, IAI Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, earlier told media.
   Owned and operated jointly by Lithuania's Ministry of Defence and Siauliai Municipality, Siauliai Airport has one 3,500 m CAT 1 runway and a second 3,280 m runway.