Lufthansa launches 1st stone from the factory of the Fair: “We hired 300 people”

The information of Carsten Spohr was released in this city of Aveiro district and Porto Metropolitan Area in press conference, before the visit with the Prime Minister to the land of about 230,000 square meters where the factory of 55,000 meters will be dedicated to the repair and maintenance of aircraft components.

“We’ve hired 300 people so far,” said the group manager, saying that these professionals are receiving specialized training at the Fair — in occupied spaces for this purpose in the Material Recovery Business Park — and that the total number of recruitments should reach 700 by 2030.

As for the start of the work, Carsten Spohr believes that the construction of Lufthansa Technik will be completed quickly and advances: “The first product to leave this facility, treated by people we trained, will leave the unit in 2028”.

The investment in question is in the order of “EUR 300 million”, but the German entrepreneur stresses that, more important than the financial aspect, it is the “value” of the overall project.

“It’s a commitment to Portugal as a strategic partner,” Carsten Spohr says. “We are the number one aviation group in Europe, we are in the world’s top and now we look to Portugal for its potential as a great partner,” he adds.

The director of Lufthansa refers not only to the industrial unit under construction at Feira, but also to the launch today of the Help Alliance Portugal, which is the first social organization that the group launches outside Germany, and also to the possible creation of a school of pilots in Portuguese territory, a hypothesis already supported by the Portuguese Government — and which would be under the supervision of the German Air Force, although also open to the training of professionals from other allied countries.

“Aviation is one of the fastest growing sectors outside information technologies,” said Carsten Spohr, about the relevance of this pilot teaching project. But, to come true, the school “will not be in Lisbon” because, if it is true that such equipment needs a location with good weather conditions and that is not a problem in Portugal, where there is “good time everywhere”, it is also certain that a structure designed to train pilots requires “space to train”.

With its widespread bet on the far west of Europe, the goal of the Lufthansa Group is to improve its connection to the other side of the Atlantic and shorten the flights of its passengers: “Portugal is a gateway to Brazil and, in geographical terms, is perfectly located for our enlargement plans to America. We believe a lot in the future of Brazil, Latin America and the Lufthansa Group’s ability to have ‘hubs’ not only in Europe — also in Africa and in markets close to Europe.”.

With 50 flights every day from Portugal, more than 500 jobs in the various companies of the group operating in the country and acquiring “one plane per week” despite the current shortages in the supply of aircraft, Carsten Spohr points to TAP’s eventual acquisition as another step towards international brand reinforcement.

Claiming that the Portuguese Government has “a very professional process to get the right partner” for the national area company, the director of the Lufthansa Group states: “We have the financial means to invest and we can provide passengers. We are confident that we are the best partner for TAP, but we will respect the choice of the Portuguese government and the decision is his.”.