AMSTERDAM—While its landing gear business has been stronger than its auxiliary power unit (APU) business during the COVID-19 pandemic, Revima plans to announce a big APU contract and a few agreements that should help solidify its relationship with APU manufacturers.
One is a 10-year agreement with Honeywell to be an authorized Channel Partner for the 131-9A and 131-9B APUs. These APUs power Airbus A320 ceo/neo and Boeing 737 NG/MAX aircraft.
While Revima has maintained Honeywell APUs for 50 years, by being an authorized network partner, Revima will get technical and spares support from the manufacturer. Revima and Honeywell were once partners and then split, but “we recently found benefits on each side to realign,” and the negotiations were smooth and quick, says Olivier Legrand, Revima Group president and CEO.
Given the A320 and 737 family aircraft ramp up underway as airline traffic picks up, having additional technical and privilege spares support “makes life easier,” says Legrand.
“During COVID, we spent time solidifying OEM relationships and building the foundation for when the recovery was there,” he tells Aviation Week on the sidelines of MRO Europe.
Revima also is close to renewing its authorized repair facility agreement with Pratt & Whitney Canada on a worldwide basis for the APS2300 (installed on Embraer 175/195), APS3200 (A320s) and APS5000 (Boeing 787) APU models.
This follows an agreement announced in February 2021 between Revima and Pratt & Whitney that expanded the MRO’s customer coverage and capabilities for most of Pratt & Whitney’s radial APUs, which are included on several regional and military aircraft. This end-of-life authorized repair facility agreement involved Revima taking on Pratt & Whitney’s smaller APUs, including some for military aircraft, which diversified the MRO’s business.
Pratt & Whitney’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility used to complete that work but Revima is moving it to its facility in France. Legrand says 60% of the transition is done and the last part, the military APUs, should be transitioned before yearend.
During Aviation Week’s MRO Europe, Revima also announced that it signed a 12-year power by the hour agreement with EVA Air for APS5000 APU aftermarket support. That contract includes APU repairs and overhauls, health monitoring, logistics and spares support, says Legrand. EVA Air is a long-term landing gear customer, but it also is the contract signing launch customer for Revima’s new landing gear facility in Chonburi, Thailand. EVA’s first A320 gears should arrive in the Thai facility next month.
While EVA is the launch customer for the Thai facility, it produced its first 737 landing gears for S7 in August, and the first A320 Asiana gears rolled out right after that, says Legrand.
While Revima experienced a 60% drop in APU MRO last year due to airlines’ decreased flying because of the pandemic, its landing gear business during that timeframe only dropped 15%. Landing gear maintenance is scheduled based on calendar time, opposed to flight hours, and Legrand expects Revima’s landing gear MRO to be back at 2019 levels this year.
While APU maintenance is accelerating, but at a slower pace than that of landing gear MRO, expect Revima’s acquisition of FlightWatching in 2019 to accelerate APU digital services in the near future.
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