EgyptAir Maintenance and Engineering obtains ECAA Approval for CFM56- 7B

“EgyptAir is always seeking development and fleet renewal to provide its customers with best luxuries and comfort services and always working to expand its route network especially under the sever challenges witnessed by the civil aviation industry” said Safwat Musllam Chairman & CEO of EgyptAir Holding Company. “EgyptAir Maintenance and Engineering (EGME)  is our strong technical arm and plays a vital role in our fleet development as it is mandatory to qualify our engineers and technicians to provide maintenance services on most recent aircraft types to meet EgyptAir fleet as well as EGME’s customers . This is what EGME managed to do by obtaining ECAA approval to provide maintenance and overhaul services to CFM56-7B engines installed on B737-800 aircraft .

Abou Taleb Tawfik, EgyptAir Maintenance and Engineering Chairman & CEO, confirmed that in 2014 EGME began working on adding the capability of maintaining engines CFM56-7B the capability list of the engine overhaul workshop as a result of increasing EGYPTAIR fleet of B737-800 to 20 aircraft. This is in addition to the 9 new aircraft of the same type, expected to be delivered by the end of December, to be 29 aircraft, 58 engines and 4 spare engines with a total of 62 engines. This large number of engines used to be maintained and overhauled abroad, which means higher maintenance cost and consumption of longer time. Accordingly, EGME has been working to increase the capability list of its engine overhaul workshop to obtain the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority approval (ECAA) which authorizes it to provide maintenance and overhaul for this type. The new approval provides hard currency for the company and expands the scope of maintenance services offered to customers other than EgyptAir Group in order to increase profit.

Tawfik added that acquiring this approval came after providing training and technical knowledge through the latest versions of the manufacturers’ books of B737-800 engine maintenance.  The Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority sent a group of inspectors to ensure the engine overhaul workshop capacity to accomplish the maintenance and overhaul of CFM56-7B engine in order to ensure the efficiency of technical teams and comprehending all items related to safety, quality and accuracy. The audit resulted in obtaining the approval.

“A plan of action has been prepared and implemented to increase the capacity of engine overhaul workshop, including the qualification and accreditation of the testing apparatus in the workshop to meet the periodic inspections carried out by the various civil aviation authorities. He added that the development of technical service provided and contracting with more customers requires maintaining various international approvals,” said Tawfik.

Tarek Ghulam, Chairman of Egypt Aero Management Services Company (EAMS), said that a group of engineers and technicians have been trained on the maintenance and overhaul of GE's CFM56-7B engines and a number of apparatus and equipment have been purchased for the workshop to qualify it to provide full overhaul for that engine type.