MONTREAL—A 76-year-old British company is breathing new life into an old building, abandoned by an Air Canada spinoff that once kept the country’s flag carrier flying.

Servicing over 800 airlines, AJW Aviation aims to turn the old Aveos shop in St-Laurent into a North American hub for aircraft repair and maintenance. The old plant has been transformed and is nearly ready to go.

“The purpose is to get a reputation for quality, build it slowly and roll the brand out,” said Christopher Whiteside, president of the AJW Technique, the division that will operation out of the plant.

Specialized employees will repair and maintain aircraft parts including fuel pumps, engines and flight data recorders.

The new plant is taking advantage of loans and investment from private and public partners, including $12 million from the FTQ investment fund, $4 million in loans from the provincial government and $3 million in grants.

“This is a great opportunity for Quebec and I’m pleased with this announcement,” said Quebec Finance Minister Nicholas Marceau after pledging funds.

AJW has historically outsourced aircraft part maintenance, but now wants to bring that work in-house. Whiteside said he hopes the Montreal operation will be fully functional by the end of the year and will soon garner more business.

"We believe we have a strong opportunity to grow our group in North America, which is of course the world's biggest market," said Whiteside.

So far the Montreal location has 40 employees, 20 of whom used to work for Aveos. The company hopes to have 215 people working within three years.

“We’re working together to grow this place and to recall as many members as possible,” said union representative George Kuehnl.

Aveos bankruptcy led to court battle

Aveos was a spinoff of Air Canada's heavy aircraft maintenance division created in 2007. With Air Canada shifting more maintenance work out of the country, Aveos went bankrupt last year.

Its closure left 1,800 people out of work in Montreal and an additional 800 jobless in two other cities. Following the closure, AJW jumped at the opportunity and bid to snap up the facility.

Last summer Aveos liquidated its assets, selling most equipment to Lufthansa Technik, while Lockheed Martin snapped up other items.

Lockheed Martin and other companies expressed some willingness to hire former Aveos workers, while the provincial government took Air Canada to court.

Quebec's Superior Court ruled this past February that Air Canada was not obeying federal law, saying the 1988 Air Canada Public Participation Act requires the airline to maintain maintenance operations in Montreal and Winnipeg.

Air Canada is appealing the ruling.