Coopsea

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Costa Rica’s Coopesa has almost 60 years’ experience in providing major main tenance inspections, modifications, upgrades, refurbishments and painting for America’s airlines and leasing companies. CEO Kenneth Waugh explored market changes and the unusual nature of Coopesa, in conversation with Phil Nicholls.

The Covid-19 pandemic hit the air line industry hard, with all aircraft grounded. For aviation services companies such as Coopesa, this meant a total halt to business. Once the skies opened again, Coopesa quickly recov ered from the shutdown.

“Coopesa is fortunate because we have such a loyal workforce,” explained

CEO Kenneth Waugh. “We bounced back quickly and resumed our normal opera tions. This return was conducted in an efficient way and maintained the highest quality of service possible.”

The company was founded in 1963 in Costa Rica, Central America. This strategic location allows easy access to the com pany from North and South America as well

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as the Caribbean. Coopesa is based at the Juan Santamaría International Airport, the primary airport serving San José, the cap ital of Costa Rica.

“Our current facilities cover 60,000 square metres,” Mr Waugh said. “We recently upgraded our operation from seven to eight positions to work on aircraft.”

Working within these facilities are over 850 employees, many of them trained on-site by the Coopesa team, sharing the experience of decades working in aircraft services. With a large anniversary in 2023,

Coopesa is excited to celebrate 60 years of operation and the loyal workforce who have helped the company achieve this milestone.

“Reaching 60 years in business is really important to us,” said Mr Waugh. “We have a lot of people who have worked here for 30 years or more. In this time, we remained stable while enduring market fluctuations such as 9/11, the financial crisis, the fuel crisis and Covid. This anniversary demon strates the strength and commitment of the Coopesa team.”

A fleet of services

Coopesa has steadily built up an impres sive range of services. The company offers a 24/7 line maintenance service 365 days a year to help airlines keep their aircraft operating on schedule. Coopesa’s line maintenance services include transit checks, overnight checks, defects recti fication, LRU replacement and A checks. Additional services include heavy maintenance, such as C-Checks, MSG2/3 and HMV. Coopesa can conduct structural repairs, aircraft modifications and a Corrosion Prevention & Control Program (CPCP). The Coopesa package can also include painting, NDT inspections, borescope inspection, avionics modifications or upgrades and interior refurbishment. The team at Coopesa are experienced on the Airbus 320 family, plus the Embraer E170 and E190 airliners manufactured in Brazil. Boeing aircraft are a speciality at Coopesa, notably the 737CL, 737NG/MAX and 757 aircraft. The company enjoys dual certification, conducting operations in compliance with either FAA or EASA.

Market evolution

Recent history at Coopesa has leveraged this breadth of experience and range of services into an impressive recovery from

the Covid shutdown. As the restrictions on airlines were lifted, Mr Waugh noted an evolution in the sector: “The pandemic changed the behaviour of people around the world, who were forced to remain at home. Everyone accelerated their use of online shopping and wanted these items delivered the next day.

“The only way to maintain a ‘next day’ supply chain is to deliver these items by air. This immediately increased the demand for air freight or cargo aircrafts.”

This evolution in the market brought Coopesa a full schedule of contracts to convert passenger aircraft to cargo oper ations as the airlines expanded their air freight operations. Indeed, Coopesa is working at full-capacity and turning away business as there is no more space within the current facilities to accommodate additional work positions.

Boosted by this surge in business, Coopesa’s turnover reached $45 million last year. Thanks to a full book of orders, the company is confident of steady work for the future.

The Coopesa distinction

In addition to the depth of knowledge in the company, Mr Waugh recognises two fea tures which distinguish Coopesa from the competition: “The way we work is impacted by being a cooperative, since all our tech ni cians are owners of the company. When working on the aircraft as owners of the provided service, they understand the responsibility and pride associated with the work provided. They are con

Mr Waugh explained. “Coopesa can do a better job if we know in advance the customer’s maintenance plan, or how the customer wants to strategically use their aircraft.

“Armed with this information, we can adjust our operation and make sure we meet the client’s needs. We also share our concerns with the clients, to help make everyone’s life easier. It’s all about learning from each other and making sure that everyone understands what affects each other’s operations.”

cerned in being efficient and apply their experience and knowledge. All the col laborators understand that for the cooperative to grow and continue, they need to share the experience and knowl edge acquired through the years.

“Another thing that sets us apart is our training programme, which brings in new talent to Coopesa. This new talent is set side-by-side with the experienced techni cians to train and work, which gives us vital knowledge transfer within the cooperative.”

This philosophy of working together and sharing information also applies to Coopesa’s relationships with suppliers and partners.

“We believe that the more we share, the more we understand each other’s needs,”

Sustainability and growth

Mr Waugh conceded that sustainable operation was a difficult area for the aviation industry: “Coopesa follows the principles of ‘Reduce-Recycle-Reuse’ to miti gate its environmental impact. In all areas, wherever possible, we have switched to a non-contaminating method or materials. But there is still much to be done.

The company also has an audit pro gramme to move away from using polluting chemicals and embrace sustainable prac tices as much as possible. This is combined with an environment compensation scheme at Coopesa and a drive to do as much posi tive to the community and the environment to balance out any negative impact.

In conjunction with the challenge of implementing sustainable work prac tices, Coopesa is seeking a way to grow organically. With the market shift towards increased air freight, the level of business available currently exceeds Coopesa’s capacity. Managing this projected growth is a challenge as it requires both new facilities and an expanded workforce.

Coopesta CEO Kenneth Waugh

The education system at Coopesa is perfect for training up new workers. Timing the creation of 400 new technicians is not straightforward, but Mr Waugh is confi dent everything will be ready when the proposed $80 million investment in a new 140,000 sqm hangar five facility is built.

By adding a first phase of the expansion project with an additional hangar to Coopesa’s new facilities at Juan Santamaría International Airport, the company will add up to 6 more lines, greatly expanding its capacity. Mr Waugh is hopeful that this hangar will be ready by the end of 2025.

“Seeing this new industry of aircraft conversions is a positive for Coopesa,” he concluded. “There’s a huge opportu nity here to become more efficient and grow Coopesa.

“This is very exciting for the Coopesa team, who are building a better future for themselves and their families. I see a great potential in leading this company into new growth, new developments and a new era for Coopesa.”

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