Page 14 - AAA JULY - SEPTEMBER 2019 Online Magazine

LEAP services capability. MTU Maintenance Zhuhai is the newest Mobile Engine Services
MRO provider with the ability to perform LEAP-1A and -1B engines Since keeping an engine on-wing is of par-
overhaul. The first quick turn LEAP-1B engine was inducted at MTU amount importance in commercial aviation,
Maintenance Zhuhai in September. repairing the engine nearest to where the air-
craft is the best option to keep downtime to a
CFM is also undertaking measures to preserve LEAP-1B engines minimum “With eleven engine service facilities
in service on the Boeing 737 MAX. The company is taking a two and seven test cells around the world, repair
phased approach to supporting its customers. The first phase station certificates from 35 countries and our
consists of proactive maintenance of the engines, with proper Mobile Engine Services, we offer a true global
preservation, completion of time sensitive tasks and pulling forward support,” says Marc Wilken, Senior Director
of planned maintenance activities. The second phase comprises of Product Sales and Engine Lease, Lufthansa
getting ready for the return to service of the engines and includes Technik. More than 500 events are handled
tasks such as performing de-preservation, validation of data links by Lufthansa Technik’s Engine Airline Support
and the completion of a complete return to service check-list. Teams every year. Lufthansa Technik Group
presently has four such repair stations around
Keeping Older Engines Performing the world. These are located in Frankfurt,
MRO firms are also working to increase the on-wing life on engines Germany, and Shenzhen, China in addition to
such as the CFM 56 and V2500. During the earlier phase of an addition to Montreal and Tulsa.
engine’s service life, MRO’ providers tend to focus on longer-term Lufthansa Technik´s Mobile Engine Services
and cost-effective operations with increased on-wing times as aims to avoid or postpone major overhaul
a way of reducing costs. This can be achieved through services events and its offerings consist of a number
such as optimized fleet management, with the PERFORMPlus of smart engine repair solutions. These range
solution from MTU Maintenance, which ensures an optimal and from on-wing and on-site services performed
most cost-effective removal time through customized workscoping, by Airline Support Teams (AST) directly at the
alternative repairs and engine trend monitoring. “Once an engine customer’s location to smart, surgical repair
matures, the focus becomes reducing costs and maximizing value solutions carried out in a global network of
for operators and owners. After all, as engines age, MRO costs repair stations.
increase due to need for heavier shop visits and material replace-
ment. Luckily, the mature engine market also offers opportunities to The MRO provider’s Mobile Engine Services
develop alternatives: There is often a surplus of engines, stemming are now gaining strong momentum in North
from the decrease in numbers of engines being actively used,” says America. “The recent expansion of our North
Jaap Beijer, President and CEO, MTU Maintenance Zhuhai. He America sites for Mobile Engine Services
cites the example of the many CFM56 engines that will be retired responds to the growing need to keep engines
in the coming years. This will create an increased supply of surplus on wing for as long as possible, to keep our cus-
engines and used serviceable material (USM), which can be fed into tomers mobile,” says Sahib Ajjam, Lufthansa
cost-effective solutions. “And the more surplus engines and USM Technik´s Senior Director Corporate Sales
in the market, the more flexible and cost effective this becomes,” USA and Canada. “Compared to a regular over-
Beijer says. As part of its solution SAVEPlus, MTU Maintenance haul shop visit, our smart and flexible approach
has smart repairs, customized builds, USM, green-time lease-in reduces costs by limiting the scope of repairs,
or out, teardown and remarketing of parts. All of which are intelli- and generates additional savings as a result
gently used and individually combined to meet each operator and/ of significantly shorter turnaround times and
or owner specific fleet planning goals. decreased transportation costs.”

The new Mobile Engine Services repair sta-
Extracting Value tion in Montréal will triple the site´s operational
However, there are times, when the cost of an overhaul can be capacity for surgical repair solutions on CFM56
out of proportion to the amount of time the engine will continue engines. The new independent premises has
being flown. In such cases, Beijer says engines with remaining more than 27,000 square feet of floor space
“green-time” can be bought, leased or exchanged to cover the and 12 bays. The Mobile Engine Services site
period remaining until phase-out. Leasing such engines goes two in Tulsa, Oklahoma now has six bays to work
ways: lease in and lease out. Leasing in, benefits operators looking on V2500 engines in addition to a fully opera-
to fill an operational gap. And leasing out, is an option for owners tional test cell. Also being added is the CFM56
of surplus engines to remarket idle time and generate additional series with the CFM56-5B. An important ele-
income. Aero engines are also unique, in that when it is simply no ment of the Mobile Engine Services portfolio
longer economical to operate an engine, the sum of the engine is Lufthansa Technik’s Cyclean Engine Wash
parts can actually be worth more than the engine as a whole. MRO System, which is currently available in seven
providers offer teardown and parts remarketing services, where the locations in North America, with the regional
recovered parts can either be used by the customer themselves, network slated to grow by another three engine
bought and used by the MRO provider or sold to other parties. wash stations in 2019.

14 | July/August/September 2019 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ AAA