As if to celebrate the recent arrival of new executive vice president Anne Brachet, Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) signed a bumper contract for component support of AirAsia’s huge A320neo fleet, which will ultimately number more than 300 aircraft. Brachet took over from Franck Terner on 29th November, following Terner’s apppointment as Air France CEO on 2nd November.
AirAsia took delivery of its first A320neo on 7th September this year in Hamburg.
Signed in the presence of AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes and Air France CEO Franck Terner, the contract between the two groups includes component repair services and solutions designed to maximise aircraft availability, such as the provision of a local main base kit at AirAsia's Kuala Lumpur facility.
AFI KLM E&M says it came up with an ultra-competitive support offer, specially tailored to the expectations of the carrier, which was looking for maximum aircraft availability.
AirAsia – an all-Airbus carrier – has already had an opportunity to test the effectiveness of the MRO solutions delivered by AFI KLM E&M, which currently provides component support for the fleet of A330s operated by AirAsia X, the AirAsia's budget long-haul subsidiary.
In related news, AFI KLM E&M recently inaugurated its new Kuala Lumpur Materials and Logistics Service Centre. The facility is designed to better serve the MRO provider’s client airlines throughout the region. A first warehouse had been deployed in 2011 as part of the Boeing Next-Generation 737 component service agreement between AFI KLM E&M and Malaysia Airlines. As of 2013 the centre began gradually taking care of additional customers.
The new logistic service centre works in close coordination with the Singapore logistic centre as well as local Component facilities in Shanghai and Mumbai. It beefs up the Group’s logistics capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region and will become one of the decentralized logistic centres of AFI KLM E&M to service customers with all aircraft types for which AFI KLM E&M provides component services, including the Boeing 737 and 787 and the A320, A330, A350 and A380.