Virgin Atlantic and Air France Industries Extend Cooperation

Virgin Atlantic, the British Gatwick-based carrier, has again selected Air France Industries, a world leading provider of aircraft MRO, to provide component support for eight Airbus A340s until 2016.

Under the terms of the contract, Air France Industries will provide total flight hour component support, access to the spare parts pool and set up dedicated exclusive spare pools.

The relationship between Virgin Atlantic and Air France Industries dates back to 1993, with the British company awarding AFI the contract to support five A340-300s. This contract was renewed in 1997 for ten aircraft.

Air France Industries has also provided component support for Virgin Atlantic's A340-600 fleet since 2002, a contract that currently involves sixteen aircraft, with plans to take the total to 25 aircraft of this type by 2011.

Air France Industries also supports the CFM56-5C engines powering the A340-300 fleet.

Nick Wakerell, Virgin Atlantic's Materials Manager said: "One of the main raison for renewing the support agreement of both A343 and A346 fleets was Air France Industries' competitive pricing, high service levels achieved and regularly maintained, outstanding customer support past and present. The new component overhaul facility E.O.L.E performs great processes, high quality and fast TAT's."

Bruno Delile, Air France Industries Senior Vice President, Industrial and Business Development, added: "Today, we are more than happy to strengthen our relationship with Virgin Atlantic. Being selected for the renewal of this MRO agreement is a great honour for Air France Industries and confirms Virgin Atlantic’s confidence in AFI's quality of service."

Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance, which joined forces following the Air France KLM merger, are world-leading multi-product MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul) providers with a joint workforce of 15,000, offering comprehensive repair capability, integration expertise, component pool operational support and a powerful logistics network. Together they support more than 900 aircraft and serve upwards of 150 major international airlines.