iAero Thrust, an engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) and engine testing provider focused on the CFM56 engine line and one of the companies within the iAero Group aviation investment platform, has developed, built, and opened a new state-of-the-art engine test cell facility in Medley, Florida, in Miami-Dade County.

The ETC provides comprehensive engine testing and hospital visit services for the CFM56 engine line. It will test all engines serviced through the iAero Thrust MRO in Miami, Florida, as well as engines from third-party MROs, lessors, and other engine operators. The ETC was designed and commissioned by Safran Test Cells and correlated by GE Aviation.

The ETC is currently FAA certified to perform acceptance testing on the CFM56-7B engine. Correlation for the CFM56-3 is in process with an expected completion in November.

"We are incredibly proud of our team for their resilience and hard work over the past two years to build, calibrate, and GE certify this new facility, and we are very excited to offer this capability to our customers," said Robert Caputo, CEO of iAero Group. He continued, "Our state-of-the-art Engine Test Center is just another way our team is scaling our integrated full-service engine MRO business to serve the growing maintenance and testing demand for the all-time best-selling commercial aircraft engine in the world."

iAero Thrust, founded in 1946, has serviced more than 9,000 engines. The company operated as AeroThrust Holdings until it was acquired by privately held iAero Group in 2018, and then rebranded iAero Thrust in 2019. iAero Thrust is an FAA certified Part 145 repair station.

iAero Group is a purpose-driven, privately held company that was founded in 2018 to create the leading investment platform to transform and scale high-growth potential companies in the aviation industry. To date, iAero Group has acquired three companies: engine MRO AeroThrust Holdings (Miami, Florida) in 2018; airframe MRO Miami Tech Aircraft Maintenance (Miami, Florida) in 2018; and charter airline Swift Air (Greensboro, North Carolina), in 2019. iAero Group partnered with The Blackstone Group to finance these transactions. Since then, these operating companies have been rebranded to iAero Thrust, iAero Tech, and iAero Airways.