Lufthansa Technik will collaborate with Safran Landing Gear Systems on Airbus A380 landing gear repairs at sites in London and Singapore.

The contract will see both parties combine their A380 landing gear specialisms, with airline customers able to send their complete landing gear sets to either shop. Lufthansa Technik’s UK landing gear facility is located close to London Heathrow Airport at a 13,400 sq. ft site able to accommodate any common landing gear type. 

Safran meanwhile operates its specialist shop close to Singapore Changi Airport, where its landing gear services include repair and overhaul, exchange and lease of landing gears, electrical harnesses and hydro-mechanical systems of both civil and regional aircraft.

The exact length of the agreement was undisclosed but was described by in a Lufthansa Technik-released statement as being a long-term one.

Bruno Chiarelli, Safran Landing Systems’s executive vice president, MRO Division, said the agreement will allow customers to benefit from the combined expertise of an OEM and MRO nose to tail provider. 

The company is among the world’s largest in the landing gear maintenance field. Safran works with an estimated 30 civil and military aircraft manufacturers while supporting approximately 27,800 aircraft that make 73,000 landings a day.  

Aviation Week’s Fleet & MRO Forecast 2020 estimates an MRO market value of $2.7 billion for the A380’s aftermarket this year. Over the next decade, this is expected to decrease by 3% annually owing to retirements from airline fleets. Airbus confirmed in February 2019 that it plans to cease production of the superjumbo by 2021.