WICHITA, KAN. -- Textron Aviation announced an expansion of its footprint in Australia with the construction of a larger and modernized service facility at Essendon Fields Airport in Melbourne to maximize support for Cessna, Beechcraft and Hawker customers in the region. The new facility will add more space for servicing aircraft, aiding in faster scheduling with minimal down time to keep customers flying. Construction is set to begin March 2025 and Textron Aviation expects to be fully functional in the new facility by early 2026.

Textron Aviation announced an expansion of its footprint in Australia with the construction of a larger and modernized service facility at Essendon Fields Airport in Melbourne to maximize support for Cessna, Beechcraft and Hawker customers in the region. (Photo: Bruce Henderson Architects)

Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker customers receive factory-direct support, maintenance and modifications by Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, through its global network of service and parts centers, mobile service units and 24/7 1CALL AOG (aircraft-on-ground) support.

The new facility will more than double the square footage of the company’s current facility to more than 35,000 square feet (3,343m2). Based on customer feedback, the new facility will be in a more central location within the airport, add a Textron Aviation parts stockroom leading to faster shipping for customers and add a more comfortable lounge for customers to utilize while aircraft is being serviced.

“Building this new facility to support the more than 1,400 aircraft operating in the APAC region demonstrates our commitment to providing the strongest combination of factory-direct maintenance and service solutions available for our customers,” said Brian Rohloff, senior vice president, Global Customer Support. “This investment will grow our capacity and help us to better assist customers with scheduled maintenance, modifications and aircraft-on-ground support.”

This news follows Textron Aviation’s announcement in June 2024 that the company moved to a larger, modernized facility at Jandakot airport in Perth, and added a parts warehouse at Essendon Fields airport to grow service capacity and support parts availability in the region. In addition, Premiair Aviation Maintenance, an Australian service center acquired by Textron Aviation in 2020, has changed its name to Textron Aviation Australia Pty Ltd. to fully integrate the Perth, Gold Coast and Melbourne facilities into the company’s comprehensive global service network.