US major unveils GoldCare ‘soup to nuts proposal’
American Airlines is vying to become North America’s sole provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to Boeing 787 customers that sign up for the manufacturer’s GoldCare support programme.
The US major has submitted an all-encompassing “soup to nuts proposal” to Boeing that includes routine and heavy-check maintenance for the 787, says the airline. Providing 787 MRO will involve “training people on the aircraft and stocking parts”, which American is “prepared to do” in advance of initial 787 deliveries to operators, it adds.
GoldCare is an all-inclusive package of maintenance and materials management for the 787, whereby Boeing brokers maintenance between airlines and a global supply chain of technical service providers. SR Technics is Boeing’s European MRO provider for GoldCare. Boeing is expected to announce the North American provider in early 2007. A maintenance partner in Asia is also being sought.
Hamilton Sundstrand, Rockwell Collins and Smiths Aerospace have also been named as participants in the programme, which will have up to 20 supplier partners.
Although American has not ordered the 787, three North American carriers – Air Canada, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines – have signed up for the new twinjet and, according to Flight International’s sister publication Airline Business, Delta Air Lines could join the list of customers next year.
American says that it will “not be making any aircraft orders until we feel we are consistently profitable” and insists that the bid to become Boeing’s North American GoldCare MRO provider “is not specifically tied” to an order. “Our strategy is to attract third party maintenance work and this is very much a part of and is consistent with this effort,” it says.
American currently provides third-party maintenance work on aircraft types in its current fleet –including the Boeing 757 and MD-80 – and those it no longer operates, such as the Fokker 100.
Source: Flight International
