Lufthansa Technik Expands Emirates, Saudia Technic Partnerships

DUBAI—Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is expanding its MRO work with Middle Eastern carriers through two new agreements signed at the Dubai Airshow.

The first is a three-year base maintenance agreement with Emirates that extends its ongoing C-check work for the carrier’s Airbus A380s. Under the new agreement, LHT will provide an additional 23 checks from its Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP) subsidiary in Manila.

LTP opened a new 9,000-m² (97,000-ft.²) hangar in 2022 that enables it to overhaul three A380s simultaneously. The company is already in the process of carrying out heavy checks for 10 of Emirates’ A380s. It is also performing A380 landing gear overhauls for the airline.

According to Prochie Raj, director of corporate sales for Middle East and Africa at LHT, demand for these types of heavy checks is increasing in the Middle East region.

“We see a growing need for base maintenance in the Middle East because a lot of aircraft are coming out of parking now. The demand is there because the airlines that used to do things in-house have additional work. Unless they outsource, they won’t be able to meet the operational capacity that they require,” she tells ShowNews.

LHT also signed a 10-year Total Component Support agreement with Saudia Technic, the MRO arm of Saudia Group. The contract covers 53 A320 and 31 A330 aircraft operated by Saudia and includes AOG support and access to LHT’s global component pool.

Saudia Technic and LHT also shared plans to introduce a joint training program in January 2024 under their recently announced “MRO Community of Excellence” partnership, which will explore complementary areas such as technician training and digitalization of MRO processes.

According to Kari Al Hamdioui, regional director of sales for Lufthansa Technik Middle East, the partnership is still in its early stages but will begin with hosting technicians from Saudia Technic in Dubai for an immersive, three-month training experience. Hamdioui says the training will focus on component repair for aircraft types operated by Saudia and other carriers in the Middle East, including Boeing 777s, 787s and A320s. Following training in Dubai, the technicians will gain further experience at LHT’s facility in Hamburg, Germany.