Inside MRO News Briefs And Contracts For June 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

Swiss Preps Long-Haul Fleet for Retrofit

Swiss is launching its largest-ever cabin retrofit program for its entire long-haul fleet as it prepares to receive its first Airbus A350-900 aircraft. It will begin retrofitting its 14 A330-300s starting from winter 2025, followed by its 12 Boeing 777-300ERs.

Chief Commercial Officer Heike Birlenbach says the airline is undergoing preparations, including working with suppliers, and expects to have its A330 fleet retrofitted in about 18 months. The 777 retrofit program will undergo predevelopment while the A330s are being retrofitted.

Birlenbach says Swiss’ remaining four A340-300s, which will be replaced by A350s, will operate longer than planned during the retrofit projects. He notes that Swiss has “not yet decided a time when we will send the A340 into retirement.”

LATAM Opts for Offshore 787 Checks

LATAM Airlines recently signed an agreement for C checks of three Boeing 787s with Amman, Jordan-based Joramco, headquartered 8,077 mi. from LATAM Airlines Group’s base in Santiago, Chile. Etihad Engineering previously has maintained LATAM’s 787s.

South America’s biggest airline group signed the deal despite making significant efforts since its restructuring to bring maintenance in-house, with the company now outsourcing just 19% of heavy maintenance services versus 32% before the pandemic. One reason for this in-housing was to mitigate long turnaround times and limited slots at third-party MRO providers, explains Marcos Melchiori, senior manager of LATAM Airlines Group’s MRO facilities in Brazil.

Joramco is scheduled to receive the first of LATAM’s 787s in July.

Asia Digital Engineering To Open Cambodia Arm

Capital A MRO venture Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) is set to open its first overseas subsidiary in Cambodia after receiving approved maintenance organization certification from the country’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation.

ADE Cambodia is a joint venture with Sivilai Asia, the same company that set up AirAsia Cambodia with Capital A.

The company will be headquartered at Phnom Penh International Airport and will first service AirAsia Cambodia Airbus A320s, and it could eventually offer third-party MRO services to other airlines in the country. The full scope of MRO services is still being deliberated. ADE will also soon open a 14-line hangar in Kuala Lumpur, which is scheduled to begin operations in the third quarter of this year.

CONTRACTS

AFI KLM E&M signed new contracts with Transavia Netherlands and Transavia France for Airbus A320/A321neo component support and CFM International CFM56-7B/Leap 1A engine support, including repair service, pooling and main base kits.

Fokker Services Group has secured a five-year HAECO ITM contract to provide component support covering avionics, hydraulics and pneumatic components across various platforms out of its facilities in LaGrange, Georgia, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

GA Telesis has won a disassembly consignment agreement with an unnamed Europe-­based lessor for a Boeing 737-800 with two CFM56-7B engines.

HAECO extended its China Airlines deal to provide inventory technical management services, including component pooling and repair management, for 10 Boeing 777-300ERs and 10 777Fs through 2032, plus landing gear overhaul for the 10 777-300ERs.

Lufthansa Technik has signed a five-year Eurowings Technik contract to provide base maintenance for the airline’s Airbus A320-family aircraft out of Budapest and Sofia starting in the second half of 2024. It expects to complete letter checks on 40 aircraft over the coming years.

Pratt & Whitney Canada has secured a six-year TAAG Angola Airlines contract to provide a fleet management program for its PW150As. The deal includes Pratt’s oil analysis technology and Flight Data Acquisition, Storage and Transmission or FAST diagnostic and prognostic solution.

Sanad Group has won a five-year, $145 million contract extension from Asiana to provide IAE V2500 maintenance for its Airbus A321s.