What are jets from Rwanda doing at our airport?

Dearest SooToday readers:

Those RwandAir jets at the Sault Ste. Marie Airport have nothing to do with ebola.

They’re absolutely nothing to worry about.

The ebola outbreak is in western Africa.

Rwanda is in eastern Africa.

Rwanda is ebola-free.  

Africa’s a really big place, okay?

Rwanda is so ebola-free and so far from the current outbreak that for a brief time in the past two weeks, the African nation was actually screening all incoming U.S. visitors for ebola.

The two Canadair CRJ-200LRs at the Sault airport are nonetheless part of an interesting local success story. 

RwandAir retired them from its fleet two years ago.

They spent some time in storage at the Flying Colours Corp. hangar at Ontario’s Peterborough Municipal Airport.   

They’re now at the J.D. Aero Technical Inc. hangar here in Sault Ste. Marie, being refurbished for use in Myanmar. 

Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar is located in southeast Asia.

It’s one of Asia’s poorest countries, ruled for a half-century by an iron-fisted military junta that had one of the world’s worst human rights records.

But in 2011, a nominally civilian government was installed and reforms since then have led to optimism that the former pariah state is emerging from decades of international isolation.

China is Myanmar’s main ally. The United States lifted nonmilitary sanctions in 2012, followed by the European Union and Canada.

Representing an emerging market of almost 50 million people, Myanmar is starting to attract interest from international investors.

Not only is J.D. Aero Technical refurbishing Myanmar-bound jets here in the Sault, it’s also established an aviation maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) shop in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s capital city.

“We have six guys in Myanmar right now. Ir’s a $3-million-dollar operation,” says Don McNabb, who co-owns J.D. Aero with Julien Chin.

McNabb and Chin are former test flight engineers who cut their teeth at Bombardier Inc.’s aerospace division before layoffs following the 9-11 terrorist attacks in Manhattan and Washington DC 13 years ago.

They ended up in the Sault, attracted by our nearness to Toronto, low operating costs and availability of the former NorOntair hangar at Sault Ste. Marie Airport.

The company has become a recognized leader in maintenance, repair and refurbishing De Havilland Dash 8s (100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 series) and Bombardier Canadair CRJ family (regional jets 100, 200, 700 and 900 series).

J.D. Aero Technical currently has about 35 year-round employees, a workforce that swells to 65 during its busy winter program.

It also has an MRO shop in the Philippines, where it’s refurbishing another CRJ-200LR that has previously flown for the Italian regional airline Air Dolomiti, Eurowings (a German regional airline owned by Lufthansa), and Nuremberg-based Flight Ambulance International Rent-A-Jet. 

Another J.D. Aero facility in Brazil does build and delivery inspections of Embraer passenger jets.

McNabb tells SooToday.com that, with help from the Sault company’s global operations, it has recently added 10-15 new employees. 

This fall, at a ceremony at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre. the company was recognized with the Northern Ontario Business Award (NOBA) for company of the year (16-50 employees). 

“Over the last three years, J.D. Aero Technical has become a top performer whose business is integral to the success of the Sault Ste. Marie Airport,” said the NOBA citation.

To view a video providing further information about J.D. Aero Technical Inc., please follow this link.