First A380 repair completed in Manila

Manila-based aircraft maintenance firm Lufthansa Technik Philippines (LTP) reached a milestone this month after completing the reconfiguration of a Qantas Airbus A380 plane’s passenger cabin—a feat that has been done nowhere else in the world.

In a statement at the weekend, LTP said the project’s completion asserted the company’s position as one of the world’s premier aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers.

“Of the 75 A380 aircraft in service all over the world, this is the first aircraft to undergo cabin reconfiguration,” LTP said. The Qantas plane is the second A380 to land on Philippine soil. Currently, there are no commercial passenger flights to the Philippines that use A380 jets.

The Airbus A380, a double-deck, wide-bodied jetliner, is the world’s largest passenger plane. The first A380s went into commercial service in 2007.

For this first reconfiguration, licensed aircraft maintenance engineers and technical representatives from Qantas Airways were on site to work hand in hand with Lufthansa Technik Philippines engineers and mechanics. Likewise, experts from Airbus and suppliers were also present to help.

Apart from the cabin upgrades, LTP said it also completed an upgrade of the A380’s internal wing “rib” structure. “The expertise of LTP’s structures team was a significant factor in the success of the wing-rib modification and in lessening its impact on the turnaround time of the cabin reconfiguration,” the company said.

Eleven more A380s from Qantas were set to arrive and have their cabins reconfigured at LTP’s Manila facility. Service on the arriving planes will be done solely by LTP personnel, who recently completed A380-specific training programs in Frankfurt, Germany.

LTP’s A380 hangar opened earlier this year. The facility cost $30 million to build.

“The great collaboration of LTP with Qantas, Airbus and Lufthansa Technik forms part of the success of this cabin reconfiguration and wing-rib modification project,” the company added.

The reconfiguration and later on the decision to carry out wing-rib inspection and repair started exactly a year after the groundbreaking of Lufthansa Technik Philippines’ newest wide-body aircraft hangar.

The construction of the hangar was one of the company’s preparations for the technical support of the world’s largest commercial aircraft.