Jet Airways, ATR sign global maintenance agreement

Jet Airways and the European turboprop aircraft manufacturer ATR has announced the signature of a new Global Maintenance Agreement (GMA), valued at some US $ 48 million on Monday. This new GMA extends the agreement for the following seven years and covers the supply of spare parts and maintenance services for the fleet of ATRs of the airline.

Jet Airways, including its subsidiary Jet Konnect, currently operates a fleet of 16 ATR 72-500 and one ATR 72-600 aircraft, and will introduce an additional four new ATR 72-600 aircraft into its fleet.

The airline has been operating ATR aircraft since 1999 and has covered its fleet with GMAs since the beginning of its partnership with ATR. Jet Airways has become the first operator in India of the new ATR -600 series aircraft, which feature the most advanced cabin interior designs, as well as the most updated avionics suite and navigation aid tools.

This new Global Maintenance Agreement will handle the complete management of the components, including the repair of line replaceable units (LRUs) and propellers, and the access to an ATR advance standard exchange pool. The service package includes also an inventory of spare parts at Jet Airways premises. With the signature of this agreement, Jet Airways will mainly take advantage of guaranteed spares availability and a large reduction of maintenance costs. The airline will additionally benefit from simplified maintenance procedures, with ATR as single channel.

According to Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways, "Jet Airways is delighted to partner with ATR in a new Global Maintenance Agreement. ATR services are an integral part of Jet Airways' domestic operations, enabling the airline to enhance network connectivity to include several smaller Indian destinations. The new agreement will streamline and ease maintenance requirements, as well as access to aircraft spare parts across Jet Airways' ATR fleet, in a cost efficient manner."

Commenting on the deal, Lilian Brayle, Senior Vice-President Product Support & Services of ATR, declared, "We are pleased to further extend our long-term partnership with a worldwide-reputed carrier which has been successfully operating ATR for many years. This GMA eases the maintenance tasks at Jet Airways, which will benefit from the experience and knowledge of the ATR Customer Support on their day-to-day operations."

By ITR Staff