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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Al Kharafi selects EgyptAir for maintenance centre at Egypt's first private airport

A new maintenance centre is to open at Egypt's first privately owned and operated airport at Marsa Salam.
Owned by the Kuwaiti Al Kharafi Group the Marsa Alam Airport is 60km north away from Marsa Alam City and is planning on 10,000 aircraft movements by the end of 2011.
 
The new maintenance centre will be operated under contract by EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering Company with the contract signed this week between Eng Abdel Aziz Fadel, EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering Chairman, and Eng Ibrahim Saleh, the Al Kharafi President in Egypt. 
 
EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering is now one of the biggest MRO providers in the Middle East and Africa for Airbus, Boeing and Embraer types. With more than 78 years history, EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering serves more than 100 airlines in Europe, Middle East and Africa with a high potential workforce to satisfy its increasing customers with total care maintenance solutions.  
 
The Marsa Alam international airport was opened to support the increasing tourism in the Red Sea area. It currently receives Boeing 737, 757 and 767 aircraft. 

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Egyptair's Maintenance & Engineering Video

A quite enjoyable video about Egyptair's Maintenance & Engineering department.

Enjoy!

EgyptAir Maintenance extends aircraft types after successful EASA audit

EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering has added aircraft types B757-200/300, B767-200/300, Airbus A330-200/30 powered by GE CF6 and Embraer E190/195 to its capability to serve EgyptAir fleet.
The new approvals will also work towards its goals of attracting more customers operating different aircraft types from around the Middle East and African region.
The move came after the successful EASA audit on EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering to renew the validity of its approval certificate. The audit was conducted in two phase:  
The first phase: was conducted on the activities in outstations in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The result of this audit reveals the perfect compliance with the regulatory requirements.
In the second phase: A complete audit was performed on all the company's activities and the related facilities in which the activities are exercised in line maintenance, base maintenance, all overhaul workshops and engine workshops. All activities and applicable procedures were checked even interviews were conducted with the staff to evaluate their competency with respect to understanding the rules of regulations together with the company's procedures and the technical tasks they are assigned to perform. 

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