Operating Licence for the Maintenance of Rolls-Royce Trent 900 Granted

July 6, 2010
N3 Engine Overhaul Services to maintain the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

Effective immediately, N3 Engine Overhaul Services (N3), a joint venture set up by Lufthansa Technik AG and Rolls-Royce plc in order to maintain, repair and overhaul aircraft engines, has been authorized to repair and overhaul the engines of the Airbus A380.

The German Federal Aviation Authority (LBA) has granted N3 a licence to operate as a maintenance company (Part 145) for large Rolls-Royce engines of the Trent 900 type. This means that, just over three years after its launch, N3 has completed its product portfolio. The company now services all three Rolls-Royce engine types - the Trent 500 (as used in the Airbus A340), the Trent 700 (as used in the Airbus A330) and now also the Trent 900 (as used in the Airbus A380).

"The operating licence for maintaining the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is an important milestone for us", says Wolfgang Kuehnhold, Director and General Manager of N3. "Maintaining the A380 engines will provide a further boost to the sustainability of the Thuringia location."

The Trent 900 engine used in the A380 builds on the three-shaft architecture of its predecessors (the Trent 500 and Trent 700), and benefits from the experience of over 30 million flight hours.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the largest Trent 900 customer of N3. Lufthansa took on its first A380 in May 2010, and has ordered a total of 15 A380-type aircraft, all of which will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. At present, nine out of 14 customers have chosen to use the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine for their A380 aircraft.

N3 Engine Overhaul Services is a joint venture set up by Lufthansa Technik AG and Rolls-Royce plc. Based in Arnstadt, Thuringia, the company was founded in 2003 and started operating from its newly built workshop in early April 2007. The name N3 refers to the three-shaft design typical of the Rolls-Royce Trent engines, each shaft rotating at a different speed. N3 is the sole facility in Europe which maintains all three large engine types Rolls Royce Trent 500, Trent 700 and Trent 900. These engines are used in the Airbus models A340, A330 and A380. N3 supports airlines in the core markets of Europe, America and Africa, as well as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). N3 is among the world's most advanced engine overhaul companies, with workshop capacity to service around 200 engines per year. In addition to the overhaul service, N3 is already extending its range of repair services for individual engine parts. N3 currently has 420 employees.

The Lufthansa Technik Group, with more than 30 subsidiaries and about 26,000 employees worldwide, is one of the leading manufacturer-independent providers of services for the aviation industry. In 2009, the Group's overall revenues stood at 4 billion euros. Lufthansa Technik is licensed internationally as a repair, production and development enterprise. The Group's portfolio encompasses the entire spectrum of services in the areas of maintenance, repair, overhaul, modification and conversion, engines and components.