Lufthansa Technik Budapest Performs 100th Heavy Maintenance Event

May 30, 2007
Lufthansa Technik Budapest is specialized in heavy maintenance for aircraft of types Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737 airplanes.

Lufthansa Technik Budapest Kft. - the Eastern European subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik - celebrates the overhaul of the 100th aircraft with the redelivery of Wizz Air's Airbus A 320. With a total turnover of more than HUF 30 billion (EUR 120 M during 5 years period) to-date, the company has steadily expanded its portfolio and capacity.

Lufthansa Technik Budapest is specialized in heavy maintenance for aircraft of types Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737 airplanes. Together with its sister company Shannon Aerospace in Ireland it forms the heavy maintenance network for short-haul aircraft of Lufthansa Technik Group in Europe.

"Following our concept to establish centers of excellence throughout our network, we successfully reached a remarkable milestone with the completion of the 100th heavy maintenance event on a narrowbody airplane," said Dr. Thomas Stüger, Chief Executive Product and Services, Lufthansa Technik AG during a press briefing on 25 May in Budapest. "Growing the customer base beyond Lufthansa has been an important task during the last years. Today, many carriers across Europe entrust their Airbus and Boeing fleets to our highly qualified and experienced team, and we much appreciate the cooperation with Wizz Air here at Ferihegy airport."

During the upcoming years Lufthansa Technik Budapest will ensure to enhance its productivity even more and to steadily implement the latest technologies. Normal turn-around-times (TAT) for heavy maintenance events (including painting) have been reduced below 26 days - a significant result. The overhaul of a Boeing or Air-bus type of aircraft can take between 20 to 30 days and 15,000 to 20,000 man hours could be spent.

"Now in 2007 it is fair to say that we are quite well positioned in the MRO industry and hold an excellent reputation - a great achievement of the whole team", said Marek Wernicke, Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa Technik Budapest. "To ensure our level of quality and to renew investments in Hungary we will need a new partnership with the country's government and local institutions specialized in training and recruiting of qualified engineers and technicians."

The workforce of more than 350 highly skilled employees services a customer base of various airlines and aircraft operators, including Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, BMI, easyJet, Hapag Lloyd, Lat Charter, My Travel, S7 Airlines, Wizz Air, Wind Jet airlines. Next to base maintenance Lufthansa Technik Budapest started also to supply line maintenance for airlines on Ferihegy Airport and added the lighter C checks and overnight checks for Lufthansa.

Lufthansa Technik Budapest in which Malev Hungarian Airlines holds a 15 per cent stake is operating from Ferihegy Airport and therefore ideally located for customers in Eastern and Central Europe and the CIS. After the lease contract for the hangar was signed in May 2001 Lufthansa Technik invested nearly 20 million Euros in the joint venture. In the two-bay hangar with a total space of 11,600 square meters two narrow body aircraft can be overhauled at the same time. Additionally, the aircraft can be painted on the spot via an ultra-modern ventilation system. Therefore the Hungarian overhaul specialists can dispense with time consuming movements of aircraft.