Hamburg, Germany. Lufthansa Technik's new established Mobile Aircraft and Cabin Services (MACS) team has completed several maintenance events at the home bases of different VIP and Executive jets customers. The new service, launched at Dubai Air Show 2009 a few months ago, meets the requirements of the VIP market to maximize the availability of the aircraft and to reduce the cost for smaller scheduled maintenance checks.
In Amman (Jordan) for example VIP Jet specialists from Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg (Germany) performed one six and one nine months check of an Airbus A318 Elite for its long term customer, the Royal Flight of Jordan. Richard Hamer, Director of the Royal Flight Jordan, said: "This new mobile service offered by Lufthansa Technik's VIP maintenance division has proved to be the right solution for our operation. Performing the maintenance in our own hangar saves the cost and time of the return ferry flight to Europe - including the cost for supporting staff, operating crew, and the aircraft direct and indirect operating costs while ensuring we can maintain the same Lufthansa Technik quality."
"Additionally our Royal Flight team based in Jordan have the opportunity to participate in the LHT maintenance performed at our home base enabling the development of RF staff and minimising labour costs. The Royal Flight have found that the use of the LHT MACS team is a perfect solution for the demanding expectations of the Royal Court to minimise aircraft out of service time, maximise aircraft availability, develop Royal Flight staff and to reduce our operating costs."
"It is our experience that the LHT MACS team also offers a very flexible solution that is not dependent upon the hangar scheduling at an MRO facility enabling us to schedule the aircraft to perform missions some times at short notice which otherwise would not be possible with a conventional booked maintenance slot and I would not hesitate to recommend this service to other VIP operators."
Thomas Decher, Managing Director of Lufthansa Technik's VIP & Executive Jet Maintenance Division, added: "It is our vision to further increase such type of flexible services in order to meet the demands of our VIP customers. Therefore I am very pleased and proud to hear that a renowned customer like Royal Flight Jordan reviews our new service in such a positive way. Short and efficient downtimes with a fair and predictable price structure performed in the hangar of our customers allow us to react very flexible and on short notice."
MACS is covering small but compulsory maintenance events as well as wear-and-tear problems in the aircraft cabin. With a team of cabin and maintenance experts coming to the aircraft's home base or wherever it is located, VIP aircraft operators can harmonize precisely smaller maintenance events with the aircraft's flight schedule. In addition to cabin interior repairs such as unhinged doors, heel marks on the floor or scratches in the furniture the MACS team can take care of small maintenance tasks and the implementation of certain unscheduled Airworthiness Directives (AD) and Service Bulletins (SB) as well as Technical Log Book items (TLB) and Deferred Defects (DD) to ensure a safe operation of the airplane. This service is currently offered for all Airbus and Boeing VIP Jets.
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.
