Page 22 - AAA JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2012 Online Magazine

MRO

cents. including changes to all seats and its first line maintenance customer at
The Group’s operating profit of $34.0 floor, overhead bin modifications and the end of November last year with
million was slightly lower by $0.4 mil- passenger service unit reconfiguration. a visit from Qatar Airways, which is
lion or 1.2% as the impact of a weaker The work started at the end of May last flying to the Chongqing three times a
US dollar was mitigated by exchange year at Ameco’s A380 hangar. In order week from Doha.. In the same month,
gains of S$7.1 million from hedging to narrow the layover impact to airline China Southern Airlines’ A380 be-
and the revaluation of net US dollar capacity in the summer season, Ameco came the first aircraft to be serviced in
denominated assets. adjusted the layover schedules in ad- Ameco Beijing’s hangar built with the
The Lufthansa Group is vance and optimized the super jumbo in mind. Ameco invested
one of just a hand- working processes. 710 million yuan to build the A380 han-
ful of MRO As a result, gar, which was put into use in 2008. “As
c o m p a - the modi- a supporting project for Beijing Capital
nies (ST f ic a - Airport’s Terminal 3, the hangar pro-
tion vides convenient and fast repair ser-
vice for Chinese and foreign customers
based on its convenient location and
good facilities,” says Ameco.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa Technic Phil-
ippines (LTP) is also gearing up for the
A380. An A380 training program at the
Lufthansa Technical Training and Luf-
thansa Technik facilities in Frankfurt,
Germany recently saw eighteen LTP
employees and Lufthansa Technical
Training Philippines (LTTP) instruc-
tors take part in an extensive training
programme. The programme, which
was run late last year, covers heavy
classroom-type and hands-on training
for the world’s biggest Airbus aircraft
today. The LTP mechanics performed
C-checks together with their counter-
Aero- TAT parts at Lufthansa Technik. The group
space be- of ev- consisted of a shift manager, team
ing another) ery aircraft leaders, crew chief, inspectors and me-
that can truly was significant- chanics.
claim to have a global ly shortened a total of The training programme for LTP
footprint. It’s two largest operations in 70 days was saved on the project. and LTTP is no coincidence - the com-
Asia are Ameco Beijing, a joint venture The company’s outstations are also pany’s first A380-capable hangar is
with Air China, and Lufthansa Technic picking up new contracts. From Janu- expected to be completed early this
Philippines, a joint venture with Macro ary, Ameco Chongqing station and year. Work on the 448-square meter
Corporation, the parent company of Guangzhou station have been carrying (90,933.52-square-ft) maintenance han-
Philippine Airlines. out line maintenance on KLM Boeing gar on schedule, says LTP.
Early this year, Ameco Beijing com- 747 cargo aircraft. KLM flies four times A small blessing and thanksgiving
pleted the business class modifica- a week to Chongqing and twice a week ceremony was held last September to
tions on 16 Air China Airbus 330-200s, to Guangzhou. mark the major step of lifting all the
marking the end of a 6-month lasting Last year saw the introduction of main steel structures of the hangar, be-
project. Ameco will also carry out cab- three new outstations outstations, ing built by construction companies,
in upgrade on Boeing 777 fleet of Air lifting the total to six - line mainte- Grandspan Development Corporation
China starting this summer. nance or even more extensive checks and Kencana.
It was the first time that Ameco has are available to customers in Beijing, Undertaking the construction of
carried out cabin modifications on Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, LTP’s third and newest widebody han-
A330-200s. The working areas involved Tianjin, Qingdao and Chengdu. gar building, the construction team
the cabin and entertainment systems, Ameco Chongqing station ushered has learned from past experiences in

22 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS January/February 2012 www.AsianAirlines-Airports.com