Netjets Europe have awarded what is understood to be one of the largest-ever paint contracts to the brand new aircraft paint shop at Robin Hood Airport.

The Lisbon, Portugal based operator which is projecting 2008 deliveries will boost its fleet by nearly one-third to 174 aircraft - plans to send 50 Cessna Citations to Directions, a public sector body that has been funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward to develop aviation industry skills and is working with Marshall Business Aviation to establish a business jet maintenance centre.

Directions has managed all the £10 million costs of developing and maintaining the 5,100m² (55,000ft²) hangar to date - designed from the outset with help from Cessna support partner, Cambridge-based Marshall, which has its own fixed-base operation at Robin Hood Airport.

"It will be essentially a partnership between Directions and Marshall, which will perform engineering on the aircraft. For Marshall, it is very much part of its effort to concentrate expertise in one area. For Netjets, the benefits lie in the ability to standardise paint specification of the highest environmental quality," says a source close to the contract.

Negotiations are understood to be ongoing for aircraft refurbishment activity on the Netjets Citation fleet, a continuous upgrade effort that Directions hopes will further its plans to develop heavy maintenance for business jets.

Work on the 50 aircraft, the oldest Citations within the Netjet fleet and acquired between 2003 and 2007, will start in the first quarter of 2009. The airport's Hangar No 2 will be renovated to provide dedicated paint facilities, where modular pods will be installed as part of a further £5 million investment.