Aircraft maintenance firm Chevron has announced plans to establish a £8.5 million 'Centre of Excellence' at Prestwick Airport.

The engineering, maintenance and training facility is set to create up to 82 jobs and is expected to be operational by early 2017.

The development, which is supported by a Regional Selective Assistance grant of £2 million from Scottish Enterprise, is being undertaken in response to increased customer and market demand.

Chevron has signed a ten-year lease with the Airport to set up the 150,000 sq ft maintenance centre, which will feature a Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) hangar facility, bespoke teardown / parts processing facility, aircraft parking area and management offices.

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Economy Secretary Keith Brown said: "I am delighted to welcome the news that Chevron Aircraft Maintenance Limited will establish an aircraft engineering, maintenance and training regional centre of excellence at Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

"The company's investment, which is being supported by our economic development agency Scottish Enterprise, underlines their commitment to Scotland, and is great news for the local Ayrshire economy. This development will bring many new and highly skilled jobs to the Prestwick area."

Managing Director of Chevron Aircraft Maintenance, Neil Morris, added: "This is a very important project to us and we have greatly valued the support we have received from Scottish Enterprise in helping us achieve this investment.

"The facility will enable the Chevron Group to handle a large range of aircraft and we hope that we can offer additional benefits to Glasgow Prestwick's existing customer base across passenger, cargo, military, executive and general aviation including training through providing them with MRO and supporting services."

(LM/CD)