Lufthansa Technik Supports DLR Research Aircraft

Lufthansa Technik was recently assigned a special task: From now on, the Hamburg-based company will support the Airbus A320 research aircraft belonging to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) under a Total Technical Support TTS® contract. The contract will initially run for a period of two years, with the option of a two-year renewal. The DLR uses the Airbus A320 for a wide variety of tasks in the context of its world-renowned research activities. One particular challenge of this maintenance program is the fact that the DLR aircraft spends far less time in actual flight than normal commercial airliners. No more than 200 flight hours have been scheduled for the coming period due to the special nature of research and experimental flights. Each flight requires intensive preparation and follow-up work, including what are often very substantial modifications to the equipment of the aircraft itself.

The recently agreed all-inclusive service package to be provided by Lufthansa Technik includes the supply and repair of components and all necessary checks of the aircraft and its engines. In addition, Lufthansa Technik will assist the DLR with future modification work.

"We are delighted to be able to expand our long-standing and successful working relationship with Lufthansa Technik under this contract. This will enable us to safely and reliably tackle the research and development tasks assigned to us in the future," says Stefan Schröder of the DLR's flight operations department.

"We are proud to be able to support this unique aircraft," stresses Sascha Leitner, who is in charge of selling services for the so called special mission aircraft at Lufthansa Technik. "All aviation enthusiasts associate the name DLR with major advances in commercial aviation."