Air Malta, Lufthansa set up aircraft maintenance firm

Lufthansa Technik and Air Malta yesterday set up a joint venture company to carry out maintenance checks on aircraft belonging to the two airlines and external customers.

The agreement to set up the company was signed at Auberge de Castille in the presence of Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami and Economic Services Minister Josef Bonnici.

It was signed by Louis Grech, Air Malta chairman, and by August W. Henningsen, chairman of Lufthansa Technik, which is a subsidiary of Lufthansa German airlines.

Lufthansa Technik Malta, as the company has been called, will be based in Malta and will start operating on January 1. It will perform what are known as C-Checks on various types of Boeing 737 aicraft, including the next generation, and Airbus A320s. A C-Check is an intense check that every plane needs to undergo every year.

The Malta company will be part of Lufthansa Technik's worldwide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) network consisting of 23 companies.

Lufthansa has a 51 per cent stake in the company, the rest being held by Air Malta.

Lufthansa Technik is one of the world's largest providers of MRO services. With over 22,000 employees spread over its network, the company enjoys an excellent worldwide reputation.

Commenting after the signing, Dr Fenech Adami said that the setting up of the new company was "extremely positive for Malta and spoke well for the labour force at Air Malta." He said the workers had displayed great flexibility and completed C-Checks for Lufthansa speedier than expected.

Mr Henningsen said Lufthansa and Air Malta had worked in many fields since 2000 especially last year when Lufthansa asked Air Malta to carry out C-Checks for it.

"The work by Air Malta personnel was of a very good quality and that made us want to cooperate more intensely with the Maltese company," he said.

Lufthansa Technik already has similar European joint ventures in Budapest, Brussels and Shannon in Ireland but yesterday's agreement was a first for southern Europe.

The Air Malta chairman hailed the setting up of the new company as "a new era in civil aviation and a landmark for Air Malta which indicates a strong potential market for southern Europe and the Mediterranean".

Asked by reporters why Lufthansa had decided to set up this joint company with Air Malta, Mr Henningsen said that the main factors they considered were the high level of expertise of Air Malta personnel, their fluency in English and the cost effectiveness of their labour.

"Most important are the short, turn-around times and the high quality. Also that you can rely on them that the plane is coming back at a fixed date because there is nothing worse for an airline than not having a plane available.

"We will either send trainers to Malta or else send Maltese workers to Germany. Language is no problem because everyone in a leading position at Lufthansa speaks English fluently," he said.

Some 50 staff members from Air Malta would work for the joint venture and another 20 will be hired.

Mr Henningsen said a C-Check involved about 1,500 man hours while a normal small check would involve about 50 hours.

"That is why you need dedicated people for C-Checks because such checks have to be done in the most professional way regarding quality, turn-around time and cost. Cost structure is important because C-Checks are labour intensive.

"In our joint venture with Air Malta, we are concentrating exclusively on C-Checks because many airlines are able to handle their planes on a day-to-day basis but for C-Checks you need more expertise, you need more tools, more time and more manpower.

"Air Malta can handle C-Checks and Lufthansa has some overflow in this business and that is why we have intensified the cooperation," Mr Henningsen said.