Today Bombardier Aerospace - the world's third-largest civil aircraft manufacturer - announced it selected Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as its location for a new European Service Centre. From this location the company will service its entire European business jet fleet, comprising more than 400 planes including Bombardier's Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft families. Bombardier Aerospace will commence operations at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at the beginning of 2010. The initial 50 employees will potentially grow to a workforce of 170 within three years.

Bombardier Aerospace has signed a three-year contract with Martinair for the sublease of Hangar 4 (approximately 9,000 m², this includes 4,240m² hangar space) at Schiphol-East. In addition, it has signed a Letter of Intent with Schiphol Real Estate (SRE) for the development of a custom-designed, dedicated Bombardier centre at Schiphol Aerospace Exchange (Schiphol-East), to be completed in 2012.

"After a long and thorough decision-making process, looking at 40 different airports in Europe, we have opted for Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as the European base for our customer service centre," says Michael McQuay, President of Bombardier Aircraft Service Centres. "This new centre will create an amazing customer experience giving us an additional advantage over our competitors."

Europe is Bombardier's second-largest market after North America, and the company expects continued growth here over the next five years. McQuay: "Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the best European airports and is strategically located in Europe. Also the support we received from the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), Schiphol Group, Schiphol Area Development Company (SADC) and other relevant government parties like the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer, City of Amsterdam and the Province of Noord-Holland made our decision-making process much easier."

The establishment of Bombardier Aerospace at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is an asset for the entire region. "We are very pleased that Bombardier Aerospace, one of the world's leading and most innovative aerospace companies, has selected our region to develop its MRO activities. This decision in difficult economic times will give the region a dynamic economic boost and will further strengthen the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area as a major European aerospace hub,'' says Arthur van Dijk, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which includes Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

"The development of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as an airport and business location began in 1916, with the first ever flight at Schiphol-East," says Maarten de Groof, CCO Schiphol Group. "Today, under the name of Schiphol Aerospace Exchange, this area focuses on technology, knowledge, training and information. Schiphol-East is home to companies and training institutes in the civil aviation and aerospace industries, including aircraft and other maintenance business for companies such as KLM and Boeing. The sustainable TransPort Building is being built in this area for transavia.com and Martinair, and a new General Aviation terminal is being developed for commercial private and business flights."

About Bombardier

Bombardier is a global transportation company that has a presence in more than 60 countries on five continents and operates two industry-leading businesses: aerospace and rail transportation. More than 30,000 employees work for the aerospace division. The company is headquartered in Montréal, Canada and its shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In the fiscal year ended 31 January 2009, the company posted revenues of $19.7 billion.

Bombardier Aerospace chooses Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol welcomed 47.4 million passengers and handled over more then 1.5 million tonnes of cargo in 2008, ranking as Europe's fifth-largest passenger and third-largest cargo airport. Around 99 scheduled airlines operate flight services from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to some 262 destinations worldwide. The airport thus ranks as one of Europe's fourth major hubs and one of the two principal home bases to Air France-KLM and the SkyTeam alliance. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is a major driver of the regional Dutch economy generating on-airport jobs for more then 65,000 people. Schiphol was presented with the 'ACI EUROPE Best Airport Award' 2009

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol forms part of Schiphol Group. The company is an airport operator and operates airports both in the Netherlands and abroad. Schiphol Group's ambition is to rank among the world's leading airport companies.Visit http://www.schiphol.nl

Source - Schiphol Press Office