10 April, 2019: Lufthansa Technik's Mobile Engine Services is gaining strong momentum in North America with the launch of a larger repair station in Montral and the introduction of a new engine type to be serviced at the Tulsa facility.
The new Mobile Engine Services repair station in Montral is at present 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 sites operational capacity for surgical repair solutions on CFM56 engines. To support the capacity increase, Lufthansa Technik plans to expand its workforce in Montral from todays 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.
"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 Techniks 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 Techniks 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 optimisation. Currently spanning seven locations in North America, the regional network of engine wash stations is set to grow by another three stations in 2019.