Pratt & Whitney has made an agreement with South African Airways Technical that allows the MRO to perform work on its JT9D-7R4G2 engines as a part of the OEM's global network.
South African Airways Technical will perform the work at its 85,000 square meter (914,432 square feet) MRO facility in Johannesburg. The engine manufacturer is also planning to provide the MRO with training and tooling that will allow South African to develop its expertise on newer engine types.
P&W says that the JT9D-7RG2 work was previously performed at Eagle Services Asia's engine overhaul facility in Singapore, which is a joint venture with Singapore Airlines Engineering Co.
P&W is working with South African Airways Technical to finalize their preparations for starting the new engine work. It did not specify an exact day for when overhauls would start, saying it will depend on customer demand.
"SAAT has experience performing overhauls on the JT9D-7R4G2 engine and have specific capabilities in place to perform full assembly/disassembly and test on these engines," says P&W.
P&W says that this is the company's first formal agreement with South African Airways Technical and that it is still discussion the options for which tooling and training it will provide to the MRO so it can expand its capability to new engine types. South African also has approvals to perform maintenance work on Pratt & Whitney JT8D, JT9D 7 and JT9D 7Q engines.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
