SR Technics America facility is large enough to accommodate five widebody aircraft at one time. SR Technics, a subsidiary of SAirGroup and the maintenance arm of Swissair, settled on the Palmdale location in December 1999, and received its FAA repair station certificate in August 2000. SR Technics America currently employs about 280 in Palmdale, including 130 maintenance technicians. Plans are to increase employment to 500 by year-end, eventually rising to a workforce of 5,000 within five years. The MRO company literally flies the flag of each customer at the entrance to the facility.
Pilots can be qualified to fly the two airplanes interchangeably.
FedEx currently operates 29 MD-11s. SR Technics America holds options for another 22 conversions. Boeing provides all the wiring, harnesses and racks, and SR Technics America completes the work and provides consumables such as bolts. Boeing keeps an engineering staff of 10 to 12 people in Palmdale. FedEx keeps a team of about six people in Palmdale.