Lufthansa Technik (LT) has opened a new competence centre for engine case repair and an X-ray centre for engine components as part of its investment in future technologies.
The company says its engine services division is gearing up for the future with the opening of the two new centres in Hamburg, which will help it prepare to handle future engine types and a growing business in engine maintenance and repairs. It has invested approximately €7 million in the new centres, with planning underway for a second stage of construction in 2019, which will extend capacity further.
LT is forecasting that its engine services division will see orders for this product double over the course of the next three years and wants to increase the variety of engine types overhauled, while also reducing turnaround time to just three weeks.
The new X-ray centre with its two systems can screen components flexibly, from the smallest engine blade up to future engine cases with a diameter of 3.5 meters. It can do this both digitally as well as in analogue mode. Recurring inspection requirements can be stored and the inspections automated in the future, it adds.
The new centre “bundles the competence needed for around 450 repair procedures, some of which are very complex. With our employees’ know-how and the state-of-the-art tools and equipment we now have available, we have created a foundation to meet the highest quality standards even for future engine types,” said Marcel Rose, head of the competence centre in the engine services division.
LT recently began offering on-wing and MRO services for the LEAP-1A (Airbus A320neo) and LEAP-1B (Boeing 737 MAX) engines from CFM International. These engines will be overhauled at the Hamburg facility. Preparations are also underway in Hamburg to build up capacity for engine part repairs and services for other engine types, it adds.
