BELGRADE, Serbia — Prince Aviation, the largest regional business jet and MRO company in the Balkans, has significantly expanded its partnership with Pratt & Whitney, marking a major milestone in the company’s growth trajectory. The Belgrade-based MRO specialist will become the first and only authorized service center in Europe for Post-Rental Inspection of Pratt & Whitney’s PW100 series turboprop engines.

This strategic expansion represents Prince Aviation’s first venture beyond business aviation engine maintenance into the commercial aviation sector, specifically targeting the regional turboprop airliners.

“This partnership marks our expansion into a significantly larger market segment, now including commercial passenger aircraft for the first time,” said Srđan Kragojević, Technical Director of Prince Aviation. “We anticipate inspecting between 20 and 30 engines annually, which translates to approximately two engines per month.”

The new agreement positions Prince Aviation as the only MRO center on the European continent authorized to inspect PW100 series engines from Pratt & Whitney’s rental pool. Previously, engines from European clients had to be shipped back to Canada for post-rental inspection. Starting next month, these services will be performed at Prince Aviation’s new hangar in Belgrade.

The collaboration builds upon a successful partnership initiated in 2016 when Prince Aviation became an authorized service center for Pratt & Whitney. Since then, the company has demonstrated expertise in maintaining various engine types, including JT15D, PW500, PW600, and PT6 series, commonly found in business aircraft.

Tiago Vaz, Director of On-Wing Support at Pratt & Whitney, emphasised the strategic importance of this partnership: “Prince Aviation is crucial for achieving the customer satisfaction we strive for daily. This new center will eliminate the need to send engines back to Canada between European rentals, significantly improving our service efficiency in the EMEA region.”

To support this expansion, Prince Aviation has established a dedicated engine workshop staffed with one engineer and two experienced engine mechanics, complementing their existing team of four mechanics. The team has completed theoretical and practical training in borescope inspections at Flight Safety in Paris, enabling them to perform comprehensive engine maintenance beyond line and on-wing services.