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Boeing 787-9
Demand for Boeing 787-9 landing gear overhauls will increase in the next few years, and Boeing is poised to earn a large share of the increasingly competitive market through its growing exchange program.
Boeing recently completed its 100th 787-8 landing gear exchange (LGE) delivery—part of a service it has provided for years on several aircraft models. Its focus is broadening to include the 787-9 fleet, which is seeing the number of airframes in the 10-12-year age group—the sweet spot for initial LGEs—steadily increase.
“We’ve done a few” 787-9s, Boeing Global Services SVP of parts, distribution and supply chain William Ampofo told Aviation Week ahead of MRO Americas. “Nowhere near the 100 on the -8, but we expect that to ramp up significantly over the next year or two.”
Boeing has teamed up with about 10 MRO providers in its 787-9 LGE network. The list will likely change based on factors such as capacity and geographic demand.
The network and related spares pool is larger than current demand warrants, but that’s by design.
“Given the kind of the environment that we’re in, we certainly wanted to get ahead of it in terms of making the sufficient investment in the number of gear [and] the right sizing of the pool to support the fleet," Ampofo said. “We’ve got a number of aircraft that are flying and that are going to be coming due for [exchanges].”
The global 787-9 fleet numbers 730. Nearly half, or 350, are at least eight years old, including 115 that have advanced past their 10-year in-service mark.
Asia-Pacific-based carriers operate 37% (131 aircraft) of the aircraft that have been flying at least eight years, Fleet Discovery shows. This includes 42 in China.
The next largest subsets are in Europe (68 aircraft) and North America (67), each with about 20% of the fleet. Middle East operators operate 14% (47).
Boeing says its LGE backlog consists of about 480 aircraft from 34 airlines.
The operating fleet’s geographic location helps drive Boeing’s decisions on where to place spares and add MRO providers, Ampofo said. Boeing regularly reviews investment plans and capacity projections with its providers. The combination helps Boeing determine when and where to add new partners.
“It’s all linked together,” Ampofo said. “It’s a volume play, it’s a capacity play, and it’s a regionalization play.”
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