Lufthansa Technik Lands Work for Airline
Posted on: Monday, 5 May 2008, 12:00 CDT
By DR STEWART
JetBlue awards an engine overhaul contract to the Tulsa outfit.
Lufthansa Technik Tulsa, the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul unit of Hamburg, Germany-based Lufthansa Group, has been awarded a 10-year, multimillion-dollar contract to overhaul engine nacelles on JetBlue Airways' fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft.
Executives at Lufthansa Technik, which employs 125 engineers and technicians in its 100,000-square-foot plant at 9932 E. 58th St., said the work for New York-based JetBlue will create additional composite bonding jobs.
Lufthansa Technik President and CEO Bernd Riggers said the JetBlue contract underscores his company's leadership in the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul industry.
"This 10-year agreement with JetBlue is another brick in the foundation of a successful Lufthansa Technik and further strengthens the Oklahoma aerospace industry," he said in a written statement.
At the close of the first quarter, JetBlue operated 139 aircraft, including 105 wide-body Airbus A320s and 34 Embraer 190s. JetBlue has 67 A320s on order, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We worked very hard to earn the trust of JetBlue Airways," said Thorsten Mathur, Lufthansa Technik's director of sales. "We were innovative in our offer structure and from the start looked at JetBlue Airways not as a customer but as a long-term business partner. This is another great step forward for Lufthansa Technik Tulsa."
The A320 nacelles consist of inlet cowls and fan cowl doors that are manufactured of lightweight composite materials. The A320s are powered by International Aero Engines' V2500 engines.
JetBlue, a low-fare carrier serving 53 cities with 550 daily flights, operates an aircraft fleet with an average age of 3.2 years, one of the youngest in the industry.
In the first quarter, JetBlue posted revenue of $816 million, up 34 percent from the same quarter last year, and a loss of $8 million, or 4 cents a share. In 2007, JetBlue had revenue of $2.84 billion, an increase of 20.2 percent over 2006, and net income of $18 million, or 10 cents a share.
The JetBlue contract is the third maintenance agreement with U.S. airlines netted by Lufthansa Technik in the last seven months.
In September, Lufthansa Technik signed a "multimillion-dollar," five-year agreement with US Airways to overhaul engine thrust reversers on the airline's Airbus narrow-body aircraft.
At the same time, the Tulsa company installed the first set of aluminum fan cowling doors on a United Airlines Airbus A321. The aluminum product replaced composite graphite doors that delaminated due to the effects of weather, heat and oil, officials said.
Under the agreement, United is flying the aircraft with Lufthansa Technik's aluminum fan cowling doors before deciding to retrofit its Airbus fleet of 151 aircraft, a company spokesman said.
With overhaul facilities in Tulsa, Hamburg and Shenzhen, China, Lufthansa Technik's capabilities include maintenance, repair and overhaul of thrust reversers, inlet and fan cowls, radomes and flight control surfaces.
D.R. Stewart 581-8451
don.stewart@tulsaworld.com
Originally published by D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer.
(c) 2008 Tulsa World. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Tulsa World
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