TAP Maintenance and Engineering Brazil Receives FAA Certification for Heavy Maintenance on Airbus A330 and A340 Aircraft

Rio de Janeiro, August 3, 2009. TAP Maintenance and Engineering Brazil, which continues to be the leader in South America in aircraft and component maintenance, has just been certified by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), in the United States, to perform heavy maintenance on Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft. The company is also certified by the FAA for the A300-B4, A300-600, and A310 models.

As a member of the Airbus MRO Network (companies authorized by Airbus to perform maintenance on its aircraft), since December 2008, as an affiliate of TAP Maintenance and Engineering, TAP M&E Brazil was already certified by Brazil’s ANAC (Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil) and by Canada’s TCCA (Transport Canada Civil Aviation) for the same aircraft and, now, expands its business potential being capable for performing maintenance on airplanes registered in the United States.

TAP M&E Brazil is also certified by the FAA for several other airplane models and, once again, the company has met the rigorous standards imposed by this Agency, on operational processes, as well as facilities, logistics and tooling.

TAP Maintenance and Engineering has invested heavily to make its facilities capable of handling the Airbus fleet, seeking technical perfection, as well as synergy between the Portugal and Brazil units. They are now fully integrated, with standardized operating procedures among the three bases: one in Portugal (Lisbon) and two in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre), plus a unique sales team.

"TAP M&E Brazil has definitively entered the Airbus maintenance market", comments the company’s Senior Vice-President Brazil, Eng. Nestor Mauro Koch. "We are already certified for all of the widebody models of the Airbus family, and we are checking on the technical and economic feasibility of beginning services for the A320 family (narrowbody), thus completing all of the models made by Airbus."