At Pratt & Whitney, a Raytheon Technologies business, “rapid response” just got faster.
The Pratt & Whitney Line Maintenance Services team in Dallas – ready at a moment’s notice to fly anywhere to help customers – is even more mobile. They’ve trained technicians based at Shanghai Engine Center, meaning more immediate in-region care for Asia-Pacific-based GTF and V2500 engine customers.
Technicians at the Shanghai Engine Center, a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and China Eastern, received certification to provide extensive V2500 line maintenance services in the summer of 2021 and recently received approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China for the Pratt & Whitney GTF engine.
Xinglai Gao, a mechanic working out of Shanghai Engine Center since 2009 with a focus on borescope inspection over the last four years, is one of the technicians who received LMS training. After months of refining the skills needed to complete rapid response work, he sees the value the service offers customers.
“Product safety and customer happiness are two critical aspects that drive technician performance,” explained Gao. “Having technicians who are ready to dispatch and deploy, dependably, from both ends of the world only helps increase our proximity to customers. Faster care means less downtime, more flight time and strengthened customer relationships.”
Gao supports a variety of engine models, ranging from the CFM-56 to the V2500 and soon, GTF line maintenance work including borescope inspections and boreblending. While additional capability may follow, the LMS services available from the Shanghai Engine Center will help to keep pace with the growing fleet and demand. The services supplement the three active GTF MRO network shops in the region, including Pratt & Whitney Eagle Services Asia in Singapore, IHI Corporation in Japan and MTU Maintenance Zhuhai in China, as well as the other seven shops coming online soon both in the region and around the globe.
“Aircraft engines are the pearl of the aviation industry. I studied aircraft maintenance in school – everything from mechanics to electrical systems to hydraulics. Each day I come to work I continue to build upon those skills and marry them with Pratt & Whitney’s OEM expertise,” said Gao. “It is really cool to know that I am one of the faces behind dependable flight.”
