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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.

SafeDrone by Lufthansa Technik and drone fleet operator Lufthansa Aerial Services will continue to trade under their current names and concentrate on their core competencies. SafeDrone's focus will be on providing technical fleet management and monitoring the condition of drones via SafeDrone Health. Lufthansa Aerial Services is responsible for drone deployments at industrial installations such as wind turbines or electrical power lines. The training opportunities previously offered by SafeDrone and  SafeDrone Academy will be continued and further developed by the affiliated company Lufthansa Aviation Training from March on.

By taking over the flight operations, Lufthansa Technik becomes the drone competence center for the entire Lufthansa Group. The MRO company is thus assuming responsibility for strategic matters, portfolio management and the correlation of all drone activities within the Group. Furthermore, Lufthansa Technik will also represent the Group's interests on national as well as international bodies and take part in the development of binding standards for the drone industry.

"The realignment of SafeDrone and the integration of Lufthansa Aerial Services' flight operations allow us to combine existing competencies and focus our drone activities on the growing industrial sector. Our skilled colleagues at Lufthansa Aviation Training will bring our training opportunities to the next level. Thanks to this strategic measure, the Lufthansa Group will be positioned successfully throughout the drone market's value chain," says Ulrich Hoffmann, project manager at SafeDrone.

In order to meet growing customer demands, Lufthansa Technik Middle East has doubled the size of its facilitiy and added new services to its portfolio. In the second half of 2018 the facility has already been successfully audited by the German Federal Aviation Office (LBA). 

The hangar and workshop space at the main facility in the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub at Dubai South was enlarged from 2,500 to 5,000 square meters – only one year after the opening of the location.

The additional space enables Lufthansa Technik Middle East to increase its capabilities for Airframe Related Components (ARC®), for example composite repairs on components such as the inlet cowls of the Boeing 787. New nacelle and radome spares for Boeing 787, 777 and Airbus A320 aircraft were acquired. Additional local mobile support teams can now perform on-wing work for certain repairs at customer sites within the region, significantly reducing costs and turnaround times. Further possible services are currently in preparation.

Tahnoon Saif, CEO, Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub said "Lufthansa Technik is one of the leading aviation suppliers in the world and we are delighted to see that their facility has doubled in size within the first year of operation at the Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub. We look forward to developing their offering at the Aerospace Hub, and will continue to support their growth and development."

Besides its recently expanded facility at Mohammed bin Rashid Aerospace Hub, Lufthansa Technik Middle East also operates a warehouse at Dubai airport, where more and more parts are stored for local spares support. The company also offers AOG support, landing gear services, engine wash services and a local material support desk. Further evaluation of additional capabilities for the region is ongoing.

A group of significant players in the aviation industry are cooperating to form a new alliance in the field of aircraft modification. As leading companies in the retrofit industry, EAD Aerospace, Envoy Aerospace, Etihad Airways Engineering and  Lufthansa Technik have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form the Independent Aircraft Modifier Alliance (IAMA).

IAMA aims to encourage aircraft owners and operators to modify and modernise their fleets through high quality equipment and rigorous inspections, irrespective of which IAMA members provide the engineering services.

Aircraft modifications, such as the installation of new cabins, connectivity solutions or avionics systems can be approved and documented through a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) offered by providers such as the IAMA members. The alliance addresses customer concerns with regard to documentation, data availability and a worldwide customer support network across different regulatory systems with various national authorities.

The main objectives of the Independent Aircraft Modifier Alliance are to agree to common standards for the documentation and quality of Supplemental Type Certificates, to establish an open, secure documentation platform for airline customers and aircraft owners using STCs, and to inform the relevant public and expert communities about the advantages of STC approved solutions.

Bernhard Randerath, Vice President Design, Engineering and Innovation of Etihad Airways Engineering said: "This alliance is a positive step towards addressing the challenges that customers face with STC solutions today. As the Middle East's largest MRO, we use OEM solutions, however, Etihad is renowned for innovation and applying our own STC modifications. We believe that OEMs will also benefit from becoming members of IAMA, which is open to all modification providers."

"Our customers need seamless solutions and efficient support during implementation and most importantly service afterwards. STCs are a fast, cost efficient way to provide modifications, and IAMA is a promising approach to address the critical points of documentation simplicity and continued after-sales support."

Thomas Rueckert, Head of Base Maintenance and Aircraft Modification at Lufthansa Technik, said: "We enable aircraft operators to decide objectively and independently on the best possible modification solution for their fleet – regardless of a specific provider. Safety, flexibility of solutions for implementation of customer requests, along with speed and efficiency are at the heart of our activities."

"In addition, value retention and reliable life cycle support are essential factors for aircraft operators and owners. IAMA jointly develop transparent standards that will help our customers make the right decisions," adds Andreas Gherman, Head of the Design Organisation at Lufthansa Technik.

Patrick Gindre, Sales Director of EAD Aerospace says: "The aftermarket modifier ecosystem needed a "home" to discuss our challenges, best practices and to improve our services by delivering a common message to the market. Together, we have the objective to shape the future of the STC in the aviation world".

Romain Mbwang Seppoh, Head of Airworthiness at EAD Aerospace adds: "The retro fit market has specific challenges to be handled with customers and operators in terms of organisation and mandatory exchange of data. IAMA will be a collaborative and knowledgeable reference and voice to regulators and standardisation committees regarding how STCs efficiently fulfil these obligations. Being in the heart of the activity, IAMA tackle those challenges daily. The alliance will foster proportionate and adapted regulations, and jointly develop and provide the optimal tools to its members."

"We are excited to be a part of IAMA," said Adrian Honer, partner and ODA Lead Administrator at Envoy Aerospace, LLC.  "The affiliation will provide our members with a significant voice to resolve issues that affect retrofit certification approvals.  Our involvement in IAMA reflects our commitment to our customers, present and future, to be a leader in retrofit aircraft certification quality."
 
Marilyn Feigl, partner and ODA Administrator at Envoy Aerospace adds: "Retrofit modifications on aircraft have unique challenges.  IAMA will offer its members mentorship and counselling to deal with these challenges, especially when dealing with regulatory agencies and the industry at large.  This will help raise the certification standards to ensure the highest quality STC products."

The launch meeting of the IAMA is scheduled for spring 2019. The Independent Aircraft Modifier Alliance is open to all market participants including aircraft manufacturers, airlines, suppliers and lessors. Founding members of the alliance believe that a strong and transparent retrofit market will benefit everyone. Members of the alliance work together to offer a transparent, distinct and independent market for aircraft retrofits, providing greater choice for operators and added value for the aviation industry.

Lufthansa Technik has developed the first robot for fully automated tests of cockpit controls in the world. The test procedure is called RoCCET, which stands for Robot Controlled Cockpit Electronics Testing. In the future, RoCCET will be used to check the functionality of LED lights and switches on the basis of concrete, standardized measurement data. The robot-based procedure is currently in the integration phase.

The robot has integrated sensors to measure the forces that occur when switches are activated. In addition, it is equipped with several industrial cameras with which it captures all display instruments and any outer damage. With another camera, it measures the brightness of all displays from various angles. The robot is thus able to check all switches and LEDs just as well as a human and perform defined functional tests.

"This fully automated procedure allows us to ease the burden on our colleagues in the workshops and reduce the testing effort by one to two hours per component. At the same time, the new procedure provides concrete measurement data in accordance with uniform standards. For example, we now have physical threshold values for the brightness of LEDs.  And with the help of data mining, we can determine exactly when an LED has to be replaced," explains Florian Sell, Senior Engineer Automated Test Equipment Systems at the Aircraft Component Services division and manager of the RoCCET project.

The robot-based test procedure will initially be used for cockpit controls on Airbus A320 and A350 as well as Boeing 787 aircraft. In the future, its use may also be extended to other cockpit and cabin controls on all aircraft types at various locations.

On 1 January, Soeren Stark joined the Executive Board of Lufthansa Technik AG with responsibility for Technical Operations, Logistics & IT. He was appointed to this position in September 2018 by the company's Supervisory Board. Stark, who has a degree in business engineering, will assume responsibility immediately for fleet services, base maintenance, components, logistics, IT and quality management. In this function, he will also serve as the accountable manager correspondent to EASA Part 145, EASA Part 21/G and EASA Part M.

Stark has worked in various Lufthansa Group companies. Most recently, he served on the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo. Prior to that, he headed both the aircraft overhaul and logistic services divisions at Lufthansa Technik, among other things. On the Executive Board of Lufthansa Technik AG, Stark succeeds Dr. Thomas Stueger, who served the Board for more than 14 years and retired in December.

Wizz Air and Lufthansa Technik have signed a ten-year AVIATAR agreement to provide one of Europe's fastest growing airlines with innovative digital fleet solutions.

Key element in the partnership approach is to further improve efficiency of Wizz Air's technical operations by using AVIATAR's modular solutions in the areas of predictive and preventive maintenance and reliability management. This happens in direct connection to the Maintenance Control Center (MCC) in Budapest. In addition, Wizz Air will also benefit from all other innovative offerings by Lufthansa Technik and third parties on AVIATAR.
 
Christian Ambiehl, Wizz Air's Head of Maintenance, said: "We have selected AVIATAR after a detailed analysis of the offerings available. The open and modular architecture of AVIATAR together with the strategic decision of our long-term partner Lufthansa Technik to neutrally offer access even to its competitors, makes it a unique platform. Competition and access to new markets have been key to Wizz Air's success in the past 14 years and our digital vision requires a neutral platform, which enables us to cooperate digitally with our MRO and technical operations partners within our growing route network. AVIATAR also allows us to control our fleet's operational data for the co-creation of new digital solutions to generate additional values for Wizz Air's operation and beyond. It is our objective to grow our fleet faster than our Technical Operations team."

Christian Langer, Head of Digital Fleet Solutions at Lufthansa Technik, said: "We are a proud partner of Wizz Air and have proven our capability to develop solutions beneficial to the needs of operators. Together with other state-of-art products available on AVIATAR, Lufthansa Technik's track record to deliver OEM-independent MRO solutions have become a reality in the digital world. Together with a growing number of airlines in the community we will continue to develop further cost-saving solutions for AVIATAR."

AVIATAR allows operators and other participants in the MRO market to collaborate on an open and neutral platform. It applies analytical models to provide new insights, recommendations and notifications, enabling users to simplify their decision processes. AVIATAR rewards its users through the optimization of operating hours, reduced consequential costs and safer as well as more reliable fleet operations, serving airline passengers around the world.

AVIATAR is an OEM-spanning platform, independent of Lufthansa Technik or any MRO service contracts. It serves as a central and connecting hub for digital products and services for the aviation industry.

The new application is called Seat Cover Tool and is already being used for cabin maintenance work on the Lufthansa Airbus A380 fleet. Designed for both mobile and stationary use, it is compatible with all current PCs and iOS-based devices such as iPads and iPhones.

Up to now, the entire process – from finding a dirty or damaged seat cover, cushion or belt, and identifying the part number to ordering and replacing the component – was completely manual. But through the use of the Seat Cover Tool, Lufthansa Technik has now digitalized the identification of the correct component and partly automated the overall process for the first time. Cabin mechanics thus save a lot of time for passenger seat maintenance.

"With Seat Cover Tool, the part numbers of seat covers that need replacing can now be identified more quickly and easily. We've managed to reduce the respective process time from six minutes to less than one minute. In addition, the application is very simple to use and identifies every seat cover part number reliably," says Stefan Mehler, Project Manager at Lufthansa Technik.

Seat Cover Tool is set to be rolled out to other seat parts and all common aircraft types as early as next year. Once that version of the tool has proven itself in practice as well, Lufthansa Technik intends to offer it to other MRO companies for a fee so that they, too, can benefit from the advantages of Seat Cover Tool.

Lufthansa Technik Intercoat has commissioned the world's first partly automated system for coating components with INTERFILL®. As a result, the components can now be coated in a single working step. The entire new system concept was developed in-house at Lufthansa Technik Intercoat.

Lufthansa Technik Intercoat specializes in the repair of components using an advanced epoxy coating process. For this purpose, the company from Kaltenkirchen, Germany, developed a material called INTERFILL® that is based on epoxy resin. The material gives components from the aviation, rail and automotive industries a new life cycle and improves their operational characteristics.

Until recently, the advanced epoxy coating process was completely manual, but now a part of the coating process could be automated. The component is fastened to a rotating device in a working booth. Then a robot arm applies INTERFILL® to the component surface through a fine nozzle.

A special applicator ensures that the ideal dose is applied with an even layer thickness. The improved application method prevents air pockets from forming, which reduces the amount of corrective work that can otherwise be necessary at times. The innovative system provides consistent, high-quality results and saves a considerable amount of time.

"Thanks to this partial automation, we were able to reduce the time it takes to coat the material to a third. That gives us the opportunity to react quickly and flexibly to customer needs, thus increasing our competitiveness," says Andreas Sauer, Managing Director of Lufthansa Technik Intercoat.

The system is currently able to process components of up to 500 x 500 x 500 millimeters in size and 25 kilograms in weight. A robot system that eliminates these restrictions is already in the works. Once that system is operational, it will also be possible to coat components with more complex, non-rotation-symmetric coating areas.

Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval to carry out maintenance work on the Airbus A320neo.

For Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico this approval marks a significant milestone, since it underlines the company's position as a center of excellence for the Airbus A320 family. An investment of some 2.8 million U.S. dollars was required for the training, tools and the material necessary for the maintenance of the new aircraft type.

"This performance was only possible thanks to our entire team's great effort. We are especially proud that Spirit Airlines is now entrusting us with the aircraft overhaul of the A320neo in addition to the A320 classic family. We are pleased that we were able to repay their trust by getting the first aircraft of this type ready for flight operations on time," says Pat Foley, Chief Executive of Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico.

Kirk Thornburg, Vice President Technical Operations at Spirit Airlines, is equally pleased: "We have been cooperating with Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico for more than three years. We are as convinced as ever that we are dealing with a highly professional team. With Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico, we have a strong partner by our side and are delighted to expand our cooperation further to include work on the A320neo."