Qantas will close B747 aircraft heavy maintenance facility
Qantas will close its Avalon aircraft heavy maintenance facility at
the end of March 2014 due to the gradual retirement of its Boeing 747
fleet. Avalon aircraft heavy maintenance base is only for B747 services.
Qantas will continue to do heavy maintenance on more than 110 aircraft at its major heavy maintenance facility in Brisbane, including the Airbus A330, Boeing 737 and Boeing 767 fleets. It has invested A$30 million this year to upgrade the facilities there, including the installation of advanced equipment to enable the Boeing 737 fleet to undergo heavy maintenance there.
The Brisbane heavy maintenance and engineering facility will also be carrying out the installation of new cabin interiors on the Qantas A330 fleet from late 2014. All 30 aircraft will be fitted with Business Suites with fully flat beds, while 10 A330-300s for Qantas International will feature new Economy seats and 20 A330-200s for Qantas Domestic will see their Economy seats refurbished. It will take around 30 days to upgrade each aircraft and the programme is expected to be completed in mid-2016.
Qantas is recruiting 30 new engineering apprentices, with over 20 to be based in Brisbane and the remainder in Sydney.
Gradual retirement of its Boeing 747 fleet, the Australian carrier is making the operation unviable – 15 are in current service, reducing to 10 in 2016.
Lyell Strambi, Qantas Domestic Chief Executive Officer, said that after a comprehensive review it was clear that despite the best endeavours of the airline, employee representative groups and suppliers, there was no workable solution to continue operating the sub-scale maintenance facility.
He added that the next step is to examine where this work will be done. As well as assessing existing onshore facilities, Qantas will also examine specialist Boeing 747 maintenance providers, including those in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the United States. Any facility would need to meet Qantas’ safety standards and be approved by Australia’s safety regulator.
Qantas will continue to do heavy maintenance on more than 110 aircraft at its major heavy maintenance facility in Brisbane, including the Airbus A330, Boeing 737 and Boeing 767 fleets. It has invested A$30 million this year to upgrade the facilities there, including the installation of advanced equipment to enable the Boeing 737 fleet to undergo heavy maintenance there.
The Brisbane heavy maintenance and engineering facility will also be carrying out the installation of new cabin interiors on the Qantas A330 fleet from late 2014. All 30 aircraft will be fitted with Business Suites with fully flat beds, while 10 A330-300s for Qantas International will feature new Economy seats and 20 A330-200s for Qantas Domestic will see their Economy seats refurbished. It will take around 30 days to upgrade each aircraft and the programme is expected to be completed in mid-2016.
Qantas is recruiting 30 new engineering apprentices, with over 20 to be based in Brisbane and the remainder in Sydney.
Gradual retirement of its Boeing 747 fleet, the Australian carrier is making the operation unviable – 15 are in current service, reducing to 10 in 2016.
Lyell Strambi, Qantas Domestic Chief Executive Officer, said that after a comprehensive review it was clear that despite the best endeavours of the airline, employee representative groups and suppliers, there was no workable solution to continue operating the sub-scale maintenance facility.
He added that the next step is to examine where this work will be done. As well as assessing existing onshore facilities, Qantas will also examine specialist Boeing 747 maintenance providers, including those in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and the United States. Any facility would need to meet Qantas’ safety standards and be approved by Australia’s safety regulator.
Comments
Post a Comment