Jazz Technical Services awarded airBaltic maintenance contract

Delivering regional aviation to the world

HALIFAX, Sept. 26, 2018 /CNW/ - Chorus Aviation Inc. ('Chorus') (TSX: CHR) announced today that its subsidiary, Jazz Aviation LP ('Jazz'), has been awarded a contract for heavy maintenance work for airBaltic of Latvia. Under the terms of the agreement, Jazz Technical Services ('JTS'), a division of Jazz dedicated to maintenance, repair and overhaul ('MRO') work, will provide airframe maintenance in support of airBaltic's 12 Q400 NextGen aircraft.

"We are very pleased to have been awarded this contract as we continue to focus on growth in our MRO business and are enthused to be expanding our customer base internationally with the addition of airBaltic," said Colin Copp, President, Jazz Aviation. "Our JTS division provides industry-leading turn times, a premium level of service and maintenance expertise which is well known and respected throughout the industry."

Andris Vaivads, SVP Technical Operations of airBaltic said, "We are excited to enter this partnership as we value Jazz Aviation highly for their experience in cold weather, which is characteristic to our home markets of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. We rely on short turnaround times as it allows us to offer in many cases the fastest and most convenient transfers via our main hub in Riga spanning our network of Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East."

Jazz Technical Services will perform the work for airBaltic from its six bay, 80,000 square foot facility at Halifax Stanfield International Airport, where over 400 maintenance professionals are employed supporting contracts for Canadian, U.S. and international customers.

Jazz's Maintenance division has received Bombardier Airline Reliability Performance Awards for five consecutive years and was the North American recipient of Bombardier's 2017 Airline Reliability Performance Awards in two categories: CRJ100/200 aircraft programs for North America; CRJ700/900/1000 aircraft programs for North America. Jazz was previously honoured with top performance in the North American region for the Q400, CRJ100/200, and CRJ700/900/1000 aircraft program categories in 2016 and 2015; the Q100/200/300, CRJ100/200, and CRJ700/900/1000 aircraft programs in 2014; and the Q400 and CRJ100/200 aircraft programs in 2013.

About Jazz

Jazz Aviation LP has a strong history in Canadian aviation with its roots going back to the 1930s. Jazz is owned by Chorus Aviation Inc. (TSX: CHR). Chorus's vision is to deliver regional aviation to the world.

As the largest regional carrier in Canada, Jazz has a proven track record of industry leadership and exceptional customer service and has leveraged that strength to deliver value to all its stakeholders. Jazz operates more flights and flies to more Canadian destinations than any other airline, and has a workforce of approximately 4,500 professionals, highly experienced in the challenging and complex nature of regional operations.

There are three divisions operated by Jazz Aviation LP: Air Canada Express, Jazz Technical Services and Jazz.

Air Canada Express: Under a capacity purchase agreement with Air Canada, using the Air Canada Express brand, Jazz provides service to and from lower-density markets as well as higher-density markets at off-peak times throughout North America, with a fleet of 116 Canadian-made Bombardier aircraft.

Jazz Technical Services: Established in May 2016 as a separate division, Jazz Technical Services ('JTS') is dedicated to heavy maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of Bombardier and Embraer aircraft. JTS provides MRO services to third parties while maintaining the dedication and commitment to its primary customer, Air Canada.

Jazz: Under the Jazz brand, the airline offers charters throughout North America for corporate clients, governments, special interest groups and individuals seeking more convenience. Jazz also has the ability to offer airline operators services such as ground handling, dispatching, flight load planning, training and consulting.

About Chorus

Headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Chorus was incorporated on September 27, 2010. Chorus' vision is to deliver regional aviation to the world. Chorus has been leasing its owned regional aircraft into Jazz's Air Canada Express operation since 2009, and established Chorus Aviation Capital to become a leading, global provider of regional aircraft leases and support services. Chorus also owns Jazz Aviation and Voyageur Aviation – companies that have long histories of safe and solid operations that deliver excellent customer service in the areas of contract flying operations, engineering, fleet management, and maintenance, repair and overhaul. Chorus Class A Variable Voting Shares and Class B Voting Shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol 'CHR'. www.chorusaviation.ca

About airBaltic

airBaltic serves over 70 destinations from Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius, offering the largest variety of destinations and convenient connections via Riga to its network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, the CIS and the Middle East. For summer 2019, airBaltic has introduced three new destinations from Tallinn to Malaga, Brussels and Copenhagen. In addition, next summer airBaltic will launch a new direct route connecting Riga and Stuttgart.

airBaltic in brief:

airBaltic (AIR BALTIC CORPORATION) is the world's most punctual airline connecting the Baltic region with 70 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and the CIS. airBaltic is a joint stock company that was established in 1995. Its primary shareholder is the Latvian state, which holds 80.05% of the stock, while Lars Thuesen holds around 20% through his fully-owned Aircraft Leasing 1 SIA. The airBaltic fleet consists of 35 aircraft – 12 Airbus A220-300s, 11 Boeing 737s and 12 Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft. airBaltic has received numerous international awards for excellence, innovative services, and achievements in reshaping its business. In 2017, the airline received the CAPA Regional Airline of the Year awards, while in 2018 airBaltic received the ATW Airline Industry Achievement Award as the Market Leader of the Year. airBaltic achieved the best on-time performance globally in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains 'forward-looking information'. Forward-looking information is identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "plan", "predict", "potential", "project", "will", "would", and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information. Results indicated in forward-looking information may also differ materially from actual results for a number of reasons, including those described in Chorus' Annual Information Form dated February 14, 2018 and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Condition dated February 14, 2018. Statements containing forward-looking information in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and Chorus does not undertake any obligation to publicly update such statements to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Chorus Aviation Inc.