By Aimée Turner Turner at Farnborough air show
SR Technics is planning a substantial ramp-up of its line maintenance capability around the world as Boeing's first partner to provide maintenance for 787 customers under GoldCare.
GoldCare, a key part of Boeing's all-inclusive package of 787 services where the manufacturer brokers maintenance between airlines and a global supply chain of technical service providers, will offer all routine and heavy-check maintenance, similar to power-by-the-hour agreements offered by engine manufacturers, covering routine replacements of airframe parts, and spares management.
Speaking at Farnborough, where Boeing named SR Technics, Smiths Aerospace and Hamilton Sundstrand as launch Goldcare partners, Boeing's vice-president 787 services and support Bob Avery said he expected to be able to announce the first GoldCare customers up to 18 months before entry into service.
With the aircraft scheduled to enter into service in May 2008, Avery said early customers in the 405-aircraft orderbook could decide to sign up for GoldCare by January at the earliest.
Declan O'Shea, SR's executive vice-president of sales and marketing, stressed that although the maintenenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business is based in Europe it is actively positioning itself as one with "global reach".
"We wanted to be at the forefront of how this product is going to develop as the airline industry is increasingly looking at innovative MRO approaches over the whole lifetime of the aircraft," he said.
Speaking about SR Technics' recent efforts to extend its global footprint in both the USA and China, he said the MRO business was "a natural fit" for Boeing's GoldCare.
Avery expects to announce two more maintenance partners in the USA and Asia by the year end. "Longer term, we will have more than three, although no more than five. That should be enough to handle the GoldCare fleet."
Avery added that Hamilton Sundstrand and Smiths Aerospace are likely to be the first of around 20 service partners to be named by the first quarter of next year.
"We will be talking to other large suppliers. We have about four companies in active negotiations. By the end of the third quarter we hope to have them under agreement too. We would like to end up at 25 in terms of our total number of suppliers while we will run our own materials management service," Avery said.
Source: Flight International
