St. John's, Newfoundland, December 19, 2008 - Provincial Aerospace Ltd. (PAL), having won a competitive bid to supply midlife structural services to Canada's Department of National Defence (DND), has taken delivery of the first of four Dash-8 Q100 aircraft.  The aircraft will receive mid-life inspections and interior refurbishment at PAL's St. John's facility.

The Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence, was present today at PAL's modification centre to celebrate the delivery of the first Dash-8 aircraft.  PAL will perform D Checks and interior refurbishment on all aircraft as well as the provision of Service Bulletins and Additional Work Requests (AWR) to ensure continued safe operation of the aircraft.  The Department of National Defence (DND), 402 Squadron, based out of 17 Wing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, operates these modified aircraft for the purpose of basic Air Navigation training conducted by the Canadian Forces Air Navigation School (CFANS).  
 
"Provincial Aerospace is delighted that the Department of National Defence has expressed such confidence in our ability to provide consistent, high-quality maintenance work," said Brian Chafe, Chief Operating Officer, Provincial Aerospace.  "Our in-house team of experts allow us to continuously improve our maintenance and operations reliability which will allow us to better work directly with the Department of National Defence in meeting their needs," said Chafe.   Keith Stoodley, Senior Vice President at Provincial Aerospace added that: "This contract with the Department of National Defence recognizes the world-class aerospace and defense contracting and aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul capabilities that we have developed in Newfoundland and Labrador. It not only opens the door on a new Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul opportunity for Provincial Aerospace but brings into Newfoundland and Labrador a new source of Canadian defence expenditure, increasing the province's participation in this important sector."

Provincial Aerospace Ltd. is an international aerospace firm based in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, with a team of over 600 employees and business operations in 30 countries worldwide. Provincial Aerospace own and operate a fleet of 10 maritime patrol aircraft (MPA's) under contract to industry, government and military clients worldwide and has extensive special mission modification and integration experience on a variety of aircraft platforms. It has international bases in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Curacao, Aruba.

For more information, contact:
Keith Stoodley
Senior Vice President - Business Development and Government Relations
Email: kstoodley@provair.com
Tel: (709) 693-2972
Fax: (709) 576-1802

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