Egyptair reaches out for third-party MRO business

By Michael Gubisch

Egyptair Maintenance & Engineering is looking to boost third-party customers' share of volume from 20% to 50% by 2018 - despite its parent airline's dramatic growth, which has seen its fleet double in four years.

This year, the MRO will begin offering third-party engine services from a shop it opened as a joint venture with Rolls-Royce and Lufthansa Technik in Cairo in 2009. The facility has full overhaul capability for International Aero Engines V2500-A1/A5 (A320 family) and CFM International CFM56-5C (A340-200/300) powerplants.

Disassembly and assembly to module level and testing capability are available for the Rolls-Royce Trent 700 (A330), CFM56-3C (737-300/400/500), Pratt & Whitney PW4090 (777) and PW4158 (A300-600). The CFM56-7B series for 737-600/700/800/900 aircraft will be added in 2014. Annual capacity is 75 engines; 12 can be worked on simultaneously.

© EgytpAir Maintenance & Engineering Rolls-Royce and Lufthansa Technik are partners in Egyptair's engine shop

The first phase since the opening was to establish the centre and stabilise work processes among its 160 staff. At the end of 2010, the turnaround time for engine overhauls was 90 days, but the plan is to reduce this to 60-70 days when third-party work begins, says Abdel Aziz Fadel, Egyptair Maintenance & Engineering's chairman and chief executive.

Local labour rates are 50-60% below the corresponding remuneration levels in western Europe, says Fadel, but staff pay contributes only about 20% to the total engine overhaul cost, with the rest based on material costs.

For the airframe maintenance business, the company plans to build four new hangars by 2025. Currently, three hangars are available to work on up to nine aircraft. Construction of the first new, three-bay hangar will begin in 2014. Two more facilities with four bays each will follow in 2016-17 and 2020-21 and the fourth hangar is due to go up in 2025.

MORE WORK SHIFTS

But capacity will not grow just in terms of facility space. Egyptair M&E wants to introduce a second work shift this year, and plans a third one in the future. These extra shifts should increase total capacity by 20-30%, says Fadel. The company employs about 5,000 staff.

A delegation from Nordam visited Egyptair M&E late last year to discuss a possible engine nacelle overhaul joint venture. Fadel declines to reveal details about the talks, but says a decision may be reached in the first quarter of 2011. He says the MRO provider has been approached by some other companies, among them Goodrich and Spirit, and that Egyptair M&E is "open to any kind of co-operation".

The company wants to move away from being just a maintenance provider to selling comprehensive support packages. These could cover, for example, continuous airworthiness management planning and engineering services, as well as access to Egyptair's component inventory. So far, 16 of the company's 100 or so customers have opted for its total support packages.

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Lufthansa plans year-round Munich – Cairo service

Once again Lufthansa is offering Munich – Cairo service with Privatair Boeing 737-800 aircraft, effective 31OCT10. Service operates 4 times a week.

In addition, as per 07OCT10 GDS timetable display, service is to operate year-round.

Schedule below:

LH586 MUC0930 – 1425CAI 73H x135
LH587 CAI1530 – 1845MUC 73H x135

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EgyptAir to calculate optimal flight routes with IT from Lufthansa Systems

EgyptAir has selected Lido/Flight from Lufthansa Systems to benefit from more efficient flight planning processes and significant cost savings.

Lido/Flight uses a number of parameters to calculate the optimal route regarding flight time, fuel consumption or costs for each flight. This can lead to fuel savings of up to five percent. EgyptAir will also use the Traffic Flow Restrictions (TFR) add-on of Lido/Flight, which achieves additional fuel savings by taking the highly complex issue of temporarily restricted airways into account.

"Our modernization strategy focuses not only on fleet renewal but also on IT. In order to increase the efficiency of our operational flight planning, we need a powerful and proven dispatch system. Lido/Flight will add value to us because of the high degree of automation and strong route optimization capabilities. We expect substantial fuel and air traffic control charge savings," said Captain Alaa Ashour, Chairman of EgyptAir.

According to the German systems company, Lido/Flight covers all aspects of flight planning.

The automatic calculation of routes takes flight-related information into account such as weather data and all current aeronautical restrictions like NOTAMs. The TFR functionality automatically considers even partly restricted airways, suggesting by-passes where legally permitted, for the most effective combination of airway segments. Benchmark analyses have shown that the tool can generate savings of up to two percent in fuel burn.

"Lido/Flight is one component of our highly integrated IOCC Platform. We are proud that EGYPTAIR decided to expand our trustful cooperation and relies on our know-how also in their flight operations. With our comprehensive portfolio, we are able to support our customers with all of their airline processes and provide the optimal IT solution", said Stefan Auerbach, Senior Vice President Sales EMEA at Lufthansa Systems.

EGYPTAIR has been cooperating with Lufthansa Systems since 2006. The airline already uses the Sirax AirFinance Platform for its revenue accounting and SchedConnect to automatically calculate the optimal codeshare assignments based on the current flight schedules.

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Lufthansa 747 to Cairo in Winter 2010

As per 13MAY10 GDS timetable display, Lufthansa in Winter 2010 season is to operate Boeing 747-400 aircraft on Frankfurt – Cairo route. However, overall service reduce from 2 Daily to 1, which is identical to 2009 Winter but was operated by Airbus A340-600.

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