All Nippon Airways (ANA) has struck a deal with Sundstrand to set up its own aircraft auxiliary power unit (APU) maintenance and repair unit at its main plant at Haneda, Tokyo.
This is the first time an airline company has set up its own APU servicing centre.
ANA has decided recently to retrofit its entire fleet of A320s and A321s - the largest in the region - with Sundstrand's APS 3200.
An ANA official says: "We were disappointed with the level of service provided by AlliedSignal when their APU was installed, and very often it is perfectly possible to do maintenance work in Haneda, rather than having to ship the APU back to the USA for the smallest repair job, which is why we are setting up this repair centre.
"It will allow us to make significant cost savings."
He adds that in the medium term ANA will look to do servicing and maintenance work for airlines around the world.
The last few weeks have seen Sundstrand winning several orders from Asian airlines to have its APS 3200 APU installed in A320 and A321 aircraft yet to be delivered, as well as retrofitted to existing A320 and A321 fleets.
Source: Flight Daily News
