Three weeks after Hurricane Maria had heavily devastated the island
of Puerto Rico, Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico (LTPR) redelivered
their one hundredth heavy maintenance check for Spirit airlines, the
launch customer for the facility.
"Thankfully all of our employees have been accounted for and while
many have suffered from the consequences of hurricane Maria, all of
them are safe and well", said Pat Foley, CEO of LTPR. "This was the
most important news for us. In addition, our hangar infrastructure
while having some damage it was not damaged heavily. However as with
the rest of the island we suffered from tremendous problems with
electricity, water supply, IT and general communications."
"In the past weeks many players helped us in our efforts to recover
our operations in view of the ongoing desperate situation here in
Puerto Rico. We would like to thank them all. Especially I would like
to thank our customers Spirit, Jet Blue and also our colleagues from
the whole Lufthansa group. Their support has been unique and without
their relief flights the situation would have been become even worse
for many people here who already had lost everything due to hurricane
Maria."
He added: "Despite the situation we have found ourselves in, it was
the strong will of all employees to rise again and to come back to
work as soon as possible. The motivation of the whole team has been
extraordinary. And once again, I would like to thank our customers,
on this occasion, for their unbroken trust and the time they have
given us for our comeback despite their operational needs."
Kirk Thornburg, Vice President Technical Operations Spirit Airlines
also commented; "It has been remarkable to see how quick LTPR has
been able to become operational again under these circumstances. Our
maintenance team salutes all at Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico in this
achievement. We are delighted to receive our 100th maintenance check
back safely once again from Puerto Rico."
After the hurricane left Puerto Rico the first focus for the LTPR
management team was to contact it's with employees, their families
and customers which lasted several days due to the destroyed
infrastructure on the island. In parallel they started to organize
emergency support with Lufthansa Technik colleagues in the US and
Europe. A special situation management team was established in the
Lufthansa Technik Headquarters in Hamburg / Germany and some
specialist support was sent to Puerto Rico with one of the first
flights after the re-opening of Puerto Rico's airports. They were
accompanied by IT-, other technical and logistics experts and
urgently needed technical equipment such as satellite communication
systems.
With the support of local and US-authorities, a variety of help
organizations and especially the transport capacities of Spirit, Jet
Blue and a Lufthansa Cargo aircraft, Lufthansa Technik was able to
organize relief flights to Aguadilla airport within the first few
days. More than 120 tons of food, water, toiletries generators and
other emergency and basic equipment for employees and local
communities have been delivered to Puerto Rico so far.
One of LTPR's maintenance lines is currently used as a "humanitarian
bay", where LTPR has facilitated the delivery of the different goods
and supplies to the local communities through their municipalities.
Lufthansa Technik Puerto Rico started its operation in July 2015 and
has currently a workforce of 320 employees. In total, 128 maintenance
events have been executed at LTPR so far. It is planned to further
grow its workforce in 2017, therefore the company is still running a
comprehensive training and recruitment program, together with local
partners. The facility in Aguadilla extends over a total area of
215,000 square feet.
Lufthansa Technik:
With some 35 subsidiaries and affiliates, the Lufthansa Technik Group
is one of the leading providers of technical aircraft services in the
world. Certified internationally as maintenance, production and
design organization, the company has a workforce of more than 25,000
employees. Lufthansa Technik's portfolio covers the entire range of
services for commercial and VIP/special mission aircraft, engines,
components and landing gear in the areas of digital fleet support,
maintenance, repair, overhaul, modification, completion and
conversion as well as the manufacture of innovative cabin products.
