A period of transformation

At ABACE 2019, Ameco and Lufthansa Technik present a jointly developed narrow-body aircraft cabin for the first time. ‘Nature's Touch' is based on an Airbus ACJ320 Business Jet as cabin concept, but the design anticipates the adaption to a Boeing 737 BBJ configuration as well. The VIP cabin is one of the first concrete and publicly visible results of the cooperation in business aircraft services for Chinese clients, which both companies signed at ABACE 2018.

The new business jet cabin layout combines the cultures of East and West, exploring the harmonious beauty in the symbiosis of nature, technology and human demands offering a brand new business jet travelling experience for customers.

Feng Bin, Ameco's Deputy General Manager of Beijing Base & Leading Head of Aircraft Cabin Solutions Product Business Unit, said: "With the rapid development of the times, the combination of advanced intelligent technology and a humanized cabin, which is the embodiment of the innovation concept, engineering technology and process quality, will be supported. Inheritance of intelligence and culture, combination of smart and comfortable cabin, all of this is the common expectation of Ameco and Lufthansa Technik technology. The collision between the East and the West brings a new development direction for business jet cabin products."

Jan Grube, Head of Asia Sales at Lufthansa Technik, added: "With this new concept we want to showcase our joint vision for the next generation of cabin technology. Here, Chinese design and German technology play hand in hand. Lufthansa Technik's many years of experience in perfect craftsmanship and engineering know-how and Ameco's deep insights into the Chinese culture and customer wishes form a symbiosis that can fulfil every wish - expressed or unspoken - for Chinese customers."

Whilst Bombardier is delivering its newest and largest aircraft type to the first customers, Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services (LBAS) is now ready to offer services for the industry's largest and longest-range aircraft. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) granted Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services the approval to perform Line Maintenance Services at its home base in Berlin Schoenefeld. Moreover, LBAS can offer AOG services at any location worldwide for the Global 7500 business jet.

"With the EASA approval for Bombardier's new flagship aircraft, we meet the needs of our clients and we can support them during the Entry into Service phase," said Clemens Schrettl, Head of Sales and Marketing at Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services.

"In the near future we will be able to offer the complete range of Line and Base Maintenance Services for this aircraft type. Our hangar in Berlin Schoenefeld has already four maintenance bays capable of receiving the Global 7500 business jet. Furthermore, our NDT-, Batteries- and Wheels-Shops are prepared to handle the extra requests," added Sascha Leitner, CEO of Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services.

Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services is a leading full-service MRO provider in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa. With 250 highly qualified personnel, Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services provides optimal support for operators of Bombardier Global, Challenger and Learjet business aircraft.

The service spectrum encompasses the entire palette of maintenance and overhaul services (line and base maintenance), such as routine inspections (engines, fuselage, APU) along with VIP cabin modifications and conversions. A Mobile Repair Party (MRP) is available to customers around the clock.

With a hangar facility of 8,600 square meters based at Berlin-Schoenefeld airport in Germany, Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services provides 12 maintenance bays.

(Bombardier, Challenger, Global, Global 7500 and Learjet are trademarks of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries.)

US-American carrier JetBlue Airways is one of the first customers of Lufthansa Technik's new engineering consulting service 'Maintwise'. In only two months, Lufthansa Technik has developed a maintenance concept tailored to the individual needs of the customer for his entire Airbus A320 fleet, consisting of about 130 aircraft.

The aim of 'Maintwise' is to bundle optimally all aspects of an aircraft maintenance program, taking into account available ground times, customer targets and framework conditions. In cooperation with the customer's planning and engineering experts, the engineers at Lufthansa Technik devise a maintenance concept that optimally harmonizes the flight plan with the maintenance program.

Depending on the customer's objectives, higher aircraft availability or lower maintenance costs are the main targets. Other objectives may include improving planning stability or increasing flexibility for aircraft operations.

For this, engineers of Lufthansa Technik assess the customer's situation by identifying the exact targets and collecting relevant information concerning the maintenance concept. Taking into account ground time constraints, maintenance requirements, required working hours and other criteria, different concepts are simulated and evaluated.

On the basis of the analysis, Lufthansa Technik proposes possible scenarios for maintenance concepts and compares their economic benefits. From this, the customer chooses the most suitable concept for implementation, which is then developed in detail.

 

 

With the inauguration of a larger repair station in Montréal and the introduction of a new engine type to be serviced at the Tulsa facility, Lufthansa Technik's Mobile Engine Services is gaining strong momentum in North America.

The new Mobile Engine Services repair station in Montréal is currently moving from inside Air Canada's facilities to new and independent premises. With more than 2,500 square meters (27,000 square feet) of floor space and 12 bays, the new building will triple the site´s operational capacity for surgical repair solutions on CFM56 engines. To support the capacity increase, Lufthansa Technik plans to expand its workforce in Montréal from today´s 30 to 80 by the end of 2021.

Since January, the Mobile Engine Services site in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has its remodeled hangar in operation, expanding the capacity for work on V2500 engines from four bays to six, plus a fully operational test cell. Along with the expansion, Lufthansa Technik will also add the CFM56 series to its Tulsa repair and test cell portfolio, with production starting in July. First in the series will be the CFM56-5B, with initially three bays. As of today, Mobile Engine Services employs 42 mechanics in Tulsa.

"The recent expansion of our North America sites for Mobile Engine Services responds to the growing need to keep engines on wing for as long as possible, to keep our customers mobile," says Sahib Ajjam, Lufthansa Technik´s Senior Director Corporate Sales USA and Canada. "Compared to a regular overhaul shop visit, our smart and flexible approach reduces costs by limiting the scope of repairs, and generates additional savings as a result of significantly shorter turnaround times and decreased transportation costs."

Aiming to avoid or postpone major overhaul events, Lufthansa Technik´s Mobile Engine Services consists of a number of smart engine repair solutions. They range from on-wing and on-site services performed by Airline Support Teams (AST®) directly at the customer's location to smart, surgical repair solutions carried out in a global network of repair stations. The Lufthansa Technik Group currently has four such repair stations around the world. In addition to Montreal and Tulsa, they are located in Frankfurt, Germany, and Shenzhen, China.

Lufthansa Technik's Cyclean® Engine Wash System is an important element of the Mobile Engine Services portfolio, vastly applied to engine performance optimization. Currently spanning seven locations in North America, the regional network of engine wash stations is set to grow by another three stations in 2019.

Lufthansa Technik will be presenting these capabilities for Mobile Engine Services at the MRO Americas convention in Atlanta, Georgia - April 9 until April 11 - at booth # 2331.

Lufthansa Technik presents two innovative cabin products at this year's Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX): HeatNOW is a heating system for floor panels which is easy to install and maintain whereas three smart options for USB charging offer inflight power to passengers.

Lufthansa Technik AG continued on its course for growth in 2018. With revenue at record levels, the company slightly surpassed its results from 2017 despite intensified price pressure and far-reaching investments in digitalization, its international network and personnel.

Sales revenues climbed by more than EUR 500 million, surging from EUR 5.404 billion to EUR 5.918 billion, an increase of 9.5 percent above the previous year's total. The company generated adjusted EBIT of EUR 425 million (previous year: EUR 415 million), an increase of 2 percent. These figures apply to Lufthansa Technik AG and its 21 fully consolidated companies.

Lufthansa Technik thus outperformed the market in 2018. The Americas region produced the highest level of growth with a 20 percent increase in revenue year on year, ahead of the region Europe, Middle East and Africa with a gain of nearly 9 percent. Asia generated modest revenue growth of 3.4 percent.

"Growth of 10 percent, a level that clearly outpaced the market, is a strong performance. We have every right to be satisfied, because we have demonstrated once again that we are the driving force in our industry," said Dr. Johannes Bussmann, the Chairman and CEO of Lufthansa Technik AG.

The important role played by Lufthansa Technik in international aviation is reflected in particular in the number of aircraft the company supports: For the first time, Lufthansa Technik now provides technical services for more than 5,000 aircraft. This figure grew in 2018 by about 600 to a total of 5,131 aircraft, an increase of nearly 13 percent, and amounts to about one-fifth of the commercial aircraft in operation around the world today.

"Every fifth aircraft that takes off and lands around the world is supported by Lufthansa Technik," Bussmann said. "This says more about our success than any key performance indicator, and it especially reflects the growing trust of our customers in the excellence of our workforce. Those are very solid prerequisites for further growth this year."

The company's strong performance was also mirrored by new contracts: During fiscal year 2018, Lufthansa Technik gained 29 additional aircraft operators as customers and signed 576 contracts for new business worth EUR 5 billion.

Investments in digitalization, network and personnel

The aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry is undergoing a very dynamic transformation process: Business conditions are changing even as the market is set to grow steadily at an expected rate of at least 5 percent annually. More and more new aircraft types with new technologies, materials, components and engines are entering flight operations as part of a process that is unlike anything seen in decades. At the same time, new actors – the manufacturers of aircraft and components – are joining the growing MRO market.

"The market is both extremely attractive and challenging. For us as the world market leader, this means continuing to develop and, of course, continuing to invest," Bussmann noted.

For this reason, Lufthansa Technik boosted its investments once again last year, from EUR 233 million to EUR 241 million. The focal points of these investments were the development of digital products and services, the expansion of the company's international production networks, partnerships with manufacturers, particularly in the area of engine overhaul, and the hiring of new employees.

The focus of the company's business development is the digitalization of the service range: AVIATAR, an independent and integrated platform for digital offers, has established itself in the marketplace. Many partners and customers from major airline alliances are already working with AVIATAR. Thus, the operators of a significant four-digit number of aircraft meanwhile supported on the platform profit from optimized operating times, reduced consequential costs and more reliable fleet operations. The services offered by AVIATAR include predictive maintenance with integrated technical implementation. Flight operations will be added in the next step as a way of providing airlines with an end-to-end, uniform solution for fleet management, from technical operations ("tech-ops") and ground operations ("ground-ops") to flight operations ("flight-ops"). To ensure competition and guarantee airlines' independence in regard to their data in the long-term, Lufthansa Technik has set up the AVIATION DataHub in March 2019. The stand-alone company offers an independent platform for all data generated by aviation.

"We are the only company in the world that offers an integrated and manufacturer-independent digital platform like AVIATAR, where we can pool our decades of experience in the maintenance of aircraft, components and engines," Bussmann explained. "The establishment of the AVIATION DataHub is another very important step to ensuring this independence and guaranteeing airlines' control of the data of their fleets and the use of this information."

In the area of engine maintenance, Lufthansa Technik moved ahead in 2018 with efforts to forge joint ventures with engine manufacturers. XEOS, a joint production platform with GE Aviation, celebrated its topping-out ceremony in 2018. Beginning in the spring of 2019, it will maintain, repair and overhaul the first large-sized engines from the latest generation of General Electric engines on behalf of their owners. EME Aero, a joint venture with MTU Aero Engines, laid the cornerstone last year for the construction of one of the largest and most modern MRO shops for state-of-the-art geared turbofan engines. This facility is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2019.

Investments in digitalization and the network were supported in 2018 by a substantial increase in the size of the company's workforce. The headcount of Lufthansa Technik AG and its 21 fully consolidated companies rose by an average of 6 percent during the year, from 21,194 (2017) to 22,537 (2018).

One critically important element of personnel development is the professional training of young people. Across Germany, 122 young employees began their training in 2018 in technical, industrial or commercial areas at the Lufthansa Technik Group. This number will rise to more than 200 on 1 August 2019, when the next training period begins.

Lufthansa Technik has set up AVIATION DataHub, an independent platform for all data generated by aviation. With this decision, Lufthansa Technik has taken an important step in the digitalization of the maintenance, repair and overhaul business (MRO) and the integration of flight and ground-handling operations. AVIATION DataHub was established as an independent company.

With this platform, airlines, manufacturers and the MRO industry as well as data providers and other market players will be able to collect, compile and process important technical or flight-operations data – from technical operations ("tech-ops") and ground operations ("ground-ops") to flight operations ("flight-ops").

AVIATION DataHub ensures data security, quality and integrity as well as efficient control by the owner of the data.

Airlines in particular will now be able to decide whether and with whom they want to share their data regarding the technical support of aircraft or the improvement of ground-handling and flight operations.

The Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Technik, Dr. Johannes Bussmann, said: "The establishment of the hub is a very important step, especially in guaranteeing airlines' control of the data of their fleets and the use of this information. Our aim is to ensure the independence of airlines and to maintain competition. After all, competition will make the aviation industry more dependable, efficient and environmentally conscious. Control, choice and competition for all market players – this is the guiding principle of AVIATION DataHub."

Lufthansa Technik currently holds a 100 percent stake in AVIATION DataHub. Over the next few months, it plans to add other shareholders and partners from the aviation industry, including the manufacturers of components and systems, and ultimately reduce its stake significantly.

AVIATAR; a digital product offered by Lufthansa Technik, will also work with the data from the AVIATION DataHub. AVIATAR is an independent and integrated platform for digital services such as predictive maintenance with integrated technical implementation. Flight operations will be included in the next step as a way of providing airlines with an integrated and uniform solution for holistic fleet management. Today, the operators of a significant four-digit number of aircraft use AVIATAR, benefiting from optimized operating times, reduced consequential costs and more reliable fleet operations.

Dr. Christian Langer, Head of Digital Fleet Solutions at Lufthansa Technik, said: "We welcome competition. It drives innovation and the search for the best solutions. For this reason, AVIATION DataHub is open to anyone who wants to improve our industry – and that naturally includes our competitors. We are already in a fairly advanced stage of discussions with some potential shareholders and partners. The interest in such a neutral data platform is huge."

AVIATION DataHub is designed for airlines, manufacturers of aircraft, components and systems, other MRO companies, data providers and providers of digital products and solutions such as Lufthansa Technik's AVIATAR.

Now that it has been founded, AVIATION DataHub will begin and expand its operative activities with AVIATAR as its first customer. Promising discussions are underway with potential partners and other shareholders, including the technical and operative integration of existing technologies and infrastructures under the umbrella of AVIATION DataHub.

Jan Stoevesand and Michael Britzke were named as managing directors of AVIATION DataHub GmbH.

Three major Russian passenger and cargo carriers have contracted Lufthansa Technik AG for comprehensive and long-term support.

Aeroflot – Russian Airlines has entrusted Lufthansa Technik with Airframe Related Components (ARC®) services for its A320 family aircraft. Ural Airlines has contracted Lufthansa Technik to provide Total Component Support (TCS®) for its new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and extended an existing agreement to support the addition of Airbus A320neo aircraft to its fleet. AirBridgeCargo Airlines has signed a long-term Total Component Support contract for its Boeing 747-400F freighter fleet.

Various management changes have been made in the international network of Lufthansa Technik. On January 25, Torsten Raabe became the new CEO of Lufthansa Technik Sofia (LTSF). There was also a change in the management team at Lufthansa Technik Shenzhen (LTS) on March 1: Benjamin Scheidel took over the CEO position from Detlev Jeske.

At LTSF, Torsten Raabe succeeded Daniel Hoffmann, who was appointed Head of Lufthansa Technik Philippines after three years in Sofia. The former CEO of LTS, Detlev Jeske, joined Lumics GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg, a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and McKinsey & Company.

Raabe began his career at the Lufthansa Technik Group in 1998. After earning his degree in industrial engineering, Raabe served in a number of managerial positions in Frankfurt and Hamburg until 2012. During that same year, he set up the Sofia-based central material management for the entire Lufthansa Technik Base Maintenance Division. Working as Senior Director for Material Management, he oversaw purchasing and material supplies for facilities in Sofia, Hamburg, Budapest, Malta, Shannon and Puerto Rico.

Benjamin Scheidel joined the Lufthansa Group in 2003. During his career here, he held a number of management positions at Lufthansa Cargo in Madrid, Frankfurt and Singapore. Scheidel, who holds a business administration degree, joined Lufthansa Technik in 2013. He initially served as Senior Regional Sales Manager for South East Asia & Australia / Pacific and later became a Corporate Key Account Manager. In 2015, he was appointed Senior Director Sales North East Asia.

Images: Copyright Lufthansa Technik

Lufthansa Technik AG today initiated the establishment of a new site for the repair and overhaul of aircraft engine parts. Dubbed Lufthansa Technik Miskolc, a new fully-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik AG will commence operations until 2022 and will utilize around 20,000 square meters of production space. Customers of Lufthansa Technik´s Engine Parts & Accessories Repair (EPAR) network will greatly benefit from this extended production capacity.

In the long term, Lufthansa Technik Miskolc will employ around 400 employees. Investments in the triple-digit million-euro range will hence not only encompass state-of-the-art machinery for procedures such as cleaning, thermal spraying and heat treatment of engine parts, but also an extensive training and qualification program.

"I am honored that a world-renowned company such as Lufthansa Technik is expanding its presence in Hungary," said Péter Szijjártó, Hungary´s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. "On the one hand, this decision once more proves the attractiveness of our business location. On the other hand, it also recognizes the enormous commitment of the people in Miskolc."

"As the fourth-largest city in Hungary, Miskolc offers a great number of highly-qualified technical experts and moreover a good infrastructure", added Philip Mende, Head of Engine Parts and Mobile Engine Services at Lufthansa Technik.  "We look forward to building Lufthansa Technik Miskolc together and adding the new colleagues to our worldwide network."

"For technology companies, Miskolc has already proven to be a great place to invest in," said Dr. Ákos Kriza, Mayor of Miskolc. "We are honored to welcome Lufthansa Technik in our city and we are going to justify their trust with the same outstanding support that has already fostered many business success stories here before."

Construction at the new site is planned to begin in 2021. Training and qualification courses for its employees will already begin in 2019 and will partly take place at the existing sites of the EPAR network in Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, China and the USA. With more than 20,000 part numbers and over 1,500 employees, Lufthansa Technik´s EPAR network today is the largest OEM-independent provider for repairs and overhauls of aircraft engine parts. By investing in the new location, EPAR is further strengthening its market position and expanding its repair portfolio for entering the new engine generation.