DUBAI—Etihad Engineering continues to grow its third-party maintenance business as it improves production processes and hangar utilization. In 2019, it serviced 356 aircraft and produced 1.6 million man-hours from maintenance services.
Abdul Khaliz Saeed, CEO of Etihad Engineering, says third-party maintenance makes up 75% of its work and in 2020 he would like to generate additional man-hours through innovation and efficiency improvements that it has been working on the last few years.
At the same time, the airline MRO has added capabilities, such as Airbus A350 maintenance in 2019. It completed its first A350 C check and paint job, for Latam Airlines, in March 2019, and has completed “a number of C checks,” says Saeed. A350 maintenance services is a growing business, “a good one for us,” he adds.
In 2018, it signed a strategic agreement with Moog for component repair.
The airline MRO has been growing the last few years after reducing its head count a few years ago and focusing on efficiency improvements.
While its hangars are busy and third-party MRO is growing, it is not interested in adding additional hangars at its Abu Dhabi base.
