Central Monarch News

A new aircraft hanger is to be built at Birmingham Airport for Monarch, creating up to 300 jobs.

Commenting on the expansion plans, Birmingham Airport's chief executive Paul Kehoe said:

"We are delighted to have been chosen as the airport for Monarch Group's UK engineering expansion, following the growth of its flight operation in Birmingham this year.

"The decision to create this state-of-the-art facility in the West Midlands demonstrates Monarch's long-term commitment to the region, creating job opportunities for skilled engineers and young people looking to start a career in aircraft maintenance."

Caroline Spelman, MP for Meriden, which includes Birmingham Airport, said:

"The creation of 300 jobs through this facility and the opportunities for apprentices is a vote of confidence in the airport and the great heritage in engineering our area has."

• UK
• Monarch
• Birmingham Airport

Monarch Aircraft Engineering - part of the Cosmos and Monarch Airlines is creating 300 jobs at Birmingham Airport to service aircraft. The engineering arm of the group has been servicing aircraft since 1967.

It's going to build a hangar one and a half times the size of Wembley football pitch to accommodate the largest planes in service including the Dreamliner 787.

The company won't just service its own aircraft but will service planes operated by other airlines including Emirates and American Airlines. The hangar will be built at the old Birmingham airport site at Elmdon.

Building work will start in January and it'll be operational by 2013.

• Business
• Monarch
• Jobs