Russian federal air transport authority Rosaviatsia has issued its first aircraft maintenance certificate under a new unifying regulation with which all servicing organisations will need to comply.
Moscow Vnukovo-based firm AviaComplex – which was formerly known as VTS Jets – secured the certificate from Rosaviatsia on 21 March.
The FAP-145 approval is intended to establish “transparent and clear” requirements for all maintenance service providers which, says Rosaviatsia, were “not present” in the earlier FAP-109 version of the rules.
It states that the regulations, including monitoring mechanisms, are based on accumulated experience and approaches to aviation maintenance “tested in global practice”.
Rosaviatsia deputy head of airworthiness maintenance Alexander Sysoev says they will allow the authority to “impose a single standard”.
All organisations with FAP-109 and FAP-285 approvals which carry out maintenance on Russian-registered aircraft, their engines and components, must undergo the new certification procedure by 1 September next year.
AviaComplex spent three months preparing to obtain certification. The company specialises particularly in maintenance for Boeing 737s and Yakovlev Superjet 100s, as well as their engines and components.
“The new rules are a significant step in the development of the aircraft maintenance industry,” says chief executive Alexander Popov. “Compared with the previous [FAP-109], they contain many procedures that detail the work of MRO organisations. As a result, flights for passengers will become even safer.”
The regulation, approved by the Russian transport ministry in October last year, came into effect on 1 March.
Rosaviatsia says four other companies, including one foreign entity, have applied for FAP-145 certification.
