KEEPING AN AIRLINER aloft to generate maximum profits calls for efficient management of a vast number of spare parts. Making sure there are enough pumps, tires, avionics gear, engines, cabin carpets, brackets and thousands of other aircraft supplies available for MRO is a major procurement challenge. No wonder that maintenance and supply managers worry ceaselessly about whether there is a shortage of this or that bit of hardware at the right time and in the right place to keep aircraft flying.
Lufthansa Technik said it will become the first international MRO provider to establish an Indian base when it opens a 20,000-sq.-m. facility outside Hyderabad at the end of next year.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. is planning to invest up to $100 million into its Maintenance Services group in an effort to bolster third-party business. It said the funding will be used to update facilities, invest in new technology and increase efficiencies. "In the past three years, we have worked with our [Transport Workers Union] partners to reduce costs, streamline processes and keep the vast majority of our own aircraft maintenance work in-house," said Senior VP-Technical Operations Bob Reding.
Pratt & Whitney wants to grow its presence in the maintenance, repair and overhaul aftermarket beyond powerplants, Global Service Partners Senior VP and GM Jim Keenan told ATWOnline this week in Hartford, Conn.
Lufthansa Technik is investing up to $500 million in preparing for the A380, Chairman August Hennigsen told ATWOnline during last week's proving flight from Frankfurt to New York JFK ( ATWOnline, March 20). "We intend to offer complete MRO support for the aircraft," he said, noting that LHT acquired expertise as its engineers were involved in the A380 specification. LHT also was involved closely in defining Lufthansa's cabin and IFE configuration.
There is a potential capacity crunch looming for landing gear MRO, according to Lufthansa Technik Director-Business Unit, Landing Gear Hamburg Michael Kirstein.
Citing strict cost control and increased revenues mainly from customers outside Lufthansa Group, Lufthansa Technik Group reported net income of €153.1 million ($167.6 million) in 2006, a healthy 17.7% increase compared to the €127.6 million earned in 2005. Revenues rose 9.4% to €3.4 billion, with revenues from group airlines ahead 5.1% to €1.4 billion, representing 40% of total sales. Revenues generated from external customers grew 12.5% and represented 60% of sales, up from 58.3% in 2005.
CFM International and Indian Airlines signed an MOU to establish a CFM56 MRO joint venture in India. The shop will perform "the full spectrum of services" for CFM56-5B and -7B engines, CFM said. Indian operates six -5B-powered A319s and has 43 A320 family aircraft on order.
Infospectrum, a California-based software development company, systems integrator and implementation specialist primarily active in the aerospace and defense sectors, has acquired the Avexus family of IT solutions for asset management including airline maintenance repair and overhaul. Infospectrum, which started in 1993, is very familiar with the Avexus line, President Suresh Radhakrishnan told ATWOnline, because it was part of the implementation team and was providing most of Avexus's global support. "We came to know quite a bit about the products' capabilities," he said.
American Airlines Maintenance Services and the Transport Workers Union, which represents AA's 27,000 maintenance workers, said yesterday that $175 million in customer revenue in 2007 is an attainable goal following the generation of $95 million worth of third-party maintenance in 2006.
VEM Maintenance and Engineering aims to become a major player in the repair and maintenance of Airbus aircraft in South America, according to Filipe Morais de Almeida, who joined the company as CEO last October from Bombardier Portugal, where he served as chairman and CEO. VEM, the former Varig Engineering & Maintenance, was acquired by TAP Portugal in early 2006 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 16, 2006).
Pratt & Whitney and China Eastern Airlines signed an agreement yesterday to create a CFM56 engine overhaul facility in Shanghai, where P&W will maintain the airline's CFM56 engines as well as provide third-party MRO.
CSA Czech Airlines board postponed indefinitely construction of its CZK1.35 billion ($61.9 million) Hangar G MRO center. The airline said the financial burden imposed by the project, which was to include CZK400 million of CSA's own resources, was too great. "The parameters of this investment project have not changed, and they are still very interesting," President Radomir Lasak said. "The conditions in CSA have changed, and that is decisive for us today.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering is working to become a significant third-party player in South America following its acquisition of VEM-Varig Engineering and Maintenance earlier this year ( ATWOnline, Oct. 4). TAP, which led the consortium that purchased the Brazilian company, invested €20 million in the recently renamed VEM Maintenance & Engineering, in which it holds a 51.1% stake.
Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance are looking into uniting under one brand, KLM E&M VP-Marketing, Sales & Customer Services Rob Pruim told ATWOnline at MRO Europe in Amsterdam. "We haven't taken any decision," he stressed, "but we have appointed consultants to see what the possibilities are.
Turkish Technic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Turkish Airlines founded last May as a profit center, is moving ahead with a new heavy maintenance facility, dubbed HABOM, at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul.
A YEAR THAT BEGAN WITH PRATT & Whitney's stunning announcement that it would develop replacement parts for CFM56-3 engines contained several more surprises as the months rolled by. By itself, Pratt's decision to break ranks with other engine OEMs and make PMA parts for the world's most popular engine family-- with United Airlines as launch customer--would have been enough for those engaged in the maintenance, repair and overhaul of commercial transports to mark 2006 as a year to remember. More was to follow, however. In the spring, EADS put its unprofitable
Spairliners is among the companies facing a more difficult road as a result of the delays in the A380 program. "We feel confident to continue on the A380, but we have to figure out on how to keep control on our costs while we won't generate revenues for an additional 12 months," CEO Jean-Luc Fattelay told ATWOnline at MRO Europe in Amsterdam. "We were on the verge of signing up some other carriers [in addition to Air France and Lufthansa] when EADS confirmed the new delays.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday announced a Total Component Support Agreement with Air Deccan covering the Indian LCC's newly arriving fleet of up to 60 A320s for a period of 10 years. Under terms of the $150 million deal, LHT and its Indian subsidiary, One Stop Airline MRO Support, "will independently serve" the Air Deccan fleet with the provision of components at the carrier's Bangalore hub.
Boeing yesterday named Nagpur in central India as the location of a new MRO facility intended to address growing demand for maintenance services in India. The manufacturer's commitment to invest up to $100 million in the facility was part of Air India's order for 68 aircraft ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12), which was finalized in January.
Austrian Airlines Group will launch a wholly owned subsidiary that will offer third-party MRO work at its 1,200-employee maintenance facility. "Our primary goal is to make better use of our quite expensive resources at the base in Vienna," CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline. Currently, AAG is doing work for Lufthansa and a few other carriers. Oetsch said Austrian Technik can compete in the tough MRO business. Further details about the project will be available in September.
Travel almost anywhere in the Asia/Pacific region and you will see Indian aircraft engineers and technicians at work at airlines and maintenance outfits. Middle Eastern carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Gulf Air also employ a large number of expatriate engineers poached from Indian Airlines and Air India.
Cathay Pacific Airways signed a $1 billion, 20-year OnPoint Solutions service agreement with GE covering MRO of 40 GE90-115B engines on 777-300ERs. It has ordered 18 of the type, the first of which is scheduled to enter service in September 2007 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16, 2005).
Maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations are investing millions of dollars in IT systems to manage their operations. Those facilities equipped with the latest software are far more likely to get the work than those without IT.
When Boeing begins delivering 787s to airlines in 2008, it expects to deliver something else as well: A total maintenance and supply chain solution that will permit operators to focus entirely on flying the airplane. GoldCare, the name of the product, will provide carriers with comprehensive line and base maintenance support, as well as supply chain management, on a cost-per-flight-hr. basis.
