Lufthansa, Calgary airport break ground on new airline maintenance facility
Posted Jun 25, 2025 9:12 am.
Last Updated Jun 26, 2025 1:51 pm.
Crews broke ground Wednesday on a new aircraft engine maintenance facility at Calgary’s airport.
WestJet announced in February a multi-billion-dollar, long-term commercial agreement with German aircraft services firm Lufthansa Technik to build the engine repair station at the Calgary International Airport.
Federal Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, Melanie Joly, Mayor Jyoti Gondek, and Alberta Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade, and Immigration, Joseph Schow, were all in attendance to mark the occasion.
“We’re not just building a new facility, we’re establishing a new benchmark in engine maintenance,” says Lufthansa Technik Canada CEO Max Schramm. “One that helps airlines keep flying, keeps the aircrafts in the skies longer, improving operational reliability and setting new industry standards.”
Once complete, it will service approximately 50 WestJet Boeing 737 Max airplanes, a quarter of the airline’s fleet.
The facility will allow the jets to be maintained and tested in Calgary, rather than being shipped overseas, which will mean reduced downtime, lower operating costs, and fewer emissions.
“This investment reflects Calgary’s key advantages,” says Gondek. “Our strategic location at the heart of the continent, a highly-skilled innovative and future focused workforce, and a well established and growing aviation eco-system.”
The engine repair station will be dedicated to servicing Leap 1-B engines, with Lufthansa Technik providing a range of services including on-wing repairs and full performance restorations. Overhauls will continue to be done at the main facility in Hamburg, Germany.
“We’re overly dependant on the US, so the fact that it’s Lufthansa, a German company that is investing here is really good news,” says Joly. “We want to be closer to Europe, we also want to be close to key Asian countries.”
The project comes with a price tag of $120 million and is expected to begin operating in 2027.
WestJet has previously said the 15-year contract with Lufthansa Technik is the largest in the carrier’s 30-year history. The facility will not be exclusive to WestJet and Lufthansa Technik says the aim is to attract additional airlines to use the facility.
The project is expected to create up to 160 new jobs in Calgary by 2030.
With files from Phoenix Phillips and The Canadian Press
