24.06.2025
Hamburg’s Wilhelmsburg district—already home to the largest logistics complex in the Airbus network— gained a new capability as RH Aero Systems and Satair cut the ribbon on a fully embedded Tool Repair & Calibration Hub this month.
Hamburg, Germany, June, 2025 – Hamburg’s Wilhelmsburg district—already home to the largest logistics complex in the Airbus network— gained a new capability as RH Aero Systems and Satair cut the ribbon on a fully embedded Tool Repair & Calibration Hub this month. The new facility brings RH Aero’s specialist technicians, test rigs and calibration benches directly into the heart of Satair’s spares flow, turning what used to be an external shipping loop into a single-location service.
This is not a stand-alone venture but the latest chapter in a two-decade partnership that began in 2004, when HYDRO (now part of RH Aero) opened its first service center in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel to support Airbus tooling and ground-support equipment. Twenty-one years later, the relationship has matured into deep mutual trust.
Purpose-built to keep the Airbus fleets in motion, the workshop is fully equipped with 6 dedicated repair workplaces, a hydraulic proof-load frame rated to twenty-five tonnes, equipment for heavy GSE handling and an electrical, and hydraulic testing to OEM requirements. Repairs and modifications can be conducted in lean and efficient processes. By situating this capability meters from Satair’s high-bay storage, tools can move straight from shelf to service bench and back to dispatch without leaving the building.
The opening drew senior leadership from both partners. RH Aero was represented by Michael Biegert, Managing Director and Executive Vice President Global Service, and Christian Hug, Head of Service Portfolio Management, while Marcus Schwarz, Global Head Logistics & Repair at Satair and Thomas Moik COO of Satair, welcomed guests on behalf of the host organisation. In a nod to their shared German roots, Biegert and Hug presented Satair with a customised Black Forest cuckoo clock whose doors reveal an A321 in full Airbus livery—symbolising the two companies’ relentless pursuit of keeping fleets “on time, every time.”
The facility launches with a core team of RH Aero technicians and mechatronics specialists; additional recruitment is already under way as the hub ramps to full capacity during the second half of 2025. Lars Zimmer, Satair’s Global Head of Repair & Production, received special thanks for championing the project from its earliest design phase, ensuring that workshop workflows mesh seamlessly with the warehouse’s high-bay storage and dispatch operations.
For operators and MROs, the new arrangement promises a single doorstep for tooling: storage, service and shipment now share one address inside the Wilhelmsburg super-centre. By eliminating freight legs and bringing calibration benches to the tools rather than vice versa, RH Aero and Satair aim to give airlines a clearer, more predictable maintenance schedule and the confidence that critical ground-support equipment as well as tooling will be ready when it is needed most.
The Hamburg Wilhelmsburg facility showcases how RH Aero’s specialised know-how can be embedded on site to deliver value in a ready, reliable, and relentless way for customers; it is the latest milestone in the company’s journey to offer truly global support through locally rooted expertise—and a clear template for future hubs worldwide.