Port hopes $40 million repair base will fly. (Pacific Aircraft Maintenance Co. negotiating with Port of Portland for airliner maintenance project at Portland International Airport)

Port hopes $40 million repair base will fly

A group of airline and airline-maintenance executives has formed a company that is negotiating to build a commercial jet maintenance hangar in Portland costing up to $40 million and employing up to 1,300 people within five years.

The company, Pacific Aircraft Maintenance Corp., is seeking financial backing from the Oregon public employees pension fund and other sources to build the operation at Portland International Airport. Company executives are talking with officials of the Port of Portland, which operates the airport. And the port has discussed preliminary plans for the project with city planners.

Airliner maintenance projects are "such a high priority in the world, there's not a city in the United States that wouldn't …