Virgin Atlantic and Lufthansa Technik AG significantly extend their business relations by signing a Memorandum of Understanding covering the introduction of a new eight year contract for C-checks and CF6-80 thrust reverser services for the airline's B747-400 fleet. These contracts are part of current comprehensive negotiations between the two companies to effectively bring together these new agreements within one new general terms agreement (GTA).

The new GTA will consist of the thrust reverser services for both the Trent 500 engines of Virgin's Airbus A340 fleet and also for the CF6-80 engines of the Boeing 747-400 fleet, plus the C-Checks for the thirteen Boeing 747-400s. The C-Checks will be performed at Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International in Frankfurt, whilst the repair and overhaul services for the thrust reversers will be carried out at the airframe related component (ARC®) business unit of Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg.

Additionally, the two companies are negotiating the early extension of the current five-year base maintenance contract for the airline's Airbus A340 fleet by a further six years through to 2019. The base maintenance services are carried out at Lufthansa Technik Philippines.

Phil Maher, Director of Engineering stated: "Virgin Atlantic has previously worked with Lufthansa Technik on a number of MRO services.

With the success of the A340 Airframe Maintenance services agreement, where strong collaborative working relationships and delivery of product improvements and quality have been established between LTP and Virgin, this has formed the foundation of this extended agreement to also include further services within the LHT group. We look forward to working with LHT in these extended areas of our business relationship."

"This agreement marks a step change in our relationship with Virgin Atlantic and is the result of the mutual understanding and open cooperation both partners have developed over the past years", said Wolfgang Weynell, Vice President Marketing & Sales at Lufthansa Technik. "The signing of a general terms agreement will greatly simplify the handling of both the new and existing contracts for both partners. Additionally, this deal also recognises our ability to optimise our services for our customers and we are both really pleased and excited to be entering this new phase in our relationship with Virgin."

About Virgin Atlantic:

Virgin Atlantic Airways is Britain's second largest airline flying to 32 business and leisure routes worldwide and employing 7,000 people. Last year Virgin Atlantic carried 5.5 million passengers to destinations including North America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

About Lufthansa Technik:

The Lufthansa Technik Group, with 32 subsidiaries and more than 26,000 employees worldwide, is one of the leading manufacturer-independent providers of services for the aviation industry. 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.