Airbus MRO network launch

Airbus announces the deployment of the first Maintenance Repair & Overhaul (MRO) Network – an initiative designed to ensure availability of competitive maintenance services and solutions to Airbus customers worldwide.

With a growing trend towards the outsourcing of maintenance, MRO providers play an increasingly important role in the support of the Airbus fleet. “After talking with customers, we identified a real need for Airbus to find ways to establish a partnership with MROs to work together in optimising the cost-effectiveness and the quality of their services to our mutual customers”, said Patrick Gavin, Executive Vice President Customer Services of Airbus.

After a successful pilot-phase, Airbus has signed Network Agreements with 11 of the world’s leading MRO companies: Air Canada Technical Services, Air New Zealand Engineering Services, EADS SOGERMA Services, Iberia Maintenance & Engineering, Sabena Technics, SIA Engineering Company, Singapore Technologies Aerospace, SR Technics Switzerland, TACA Aeroman, TAP Maintenance & Engineering and TIMCO Aviation Services.

These first Network members have vast experience in the maintenance of Airbus aircraft and represent a good industry cross-section, both in terms of their regional disposition and the mix of independent and airline affiliated MROs.

At the heart of the Network are core processes that are key to continually improve maintenance services offered by the Network and enhance customer satisfaction. These processes hinge on maintenance efficiency benchmarking, improvement plans and MRO support in Airbus sales campaigns for customers who are looking to outsource maintenance. And with customer satisfaction being the overriding goal, there will be a special Customer Satisfaction Improvement Programme (CSIP) survey to measure the MRO customers’ satisfaction with the services they will receive from the Network.

“For Airbus, customer satisfaction is a prime objective. The Airbus MRO Network is one important means of achieving this objective. It is an essential step as the MRO Network will close the loop and complement our well established relationships with our customers and our suppliers” stated Gustav Humbert, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus.

The Network will expand to meet market demand as additional MROs who comply with membership criteria join up. Whilst the Network will include MROs who already have a broad experience in Airbus maintenance, less experienced MROs will have access to support services and may qualify for Network membership in the future.

A leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on the market, Airbus is a global company with design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK, and Spain as well as subsidiaries in the U.S, China and Japan. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS joint Company with BAE Systems.

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