By KT Reporter
Uganda Airlines marked a milestone in its journey, when in-house engineers successfully changed a Bombardier aircraft engine at Entebbe.
This was the first task of a kind for the six-year old company, which now bids to open up the services at the Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) at its Entebbe Airport Hub, to other airlines in Africa.
The left engine, one of the two on the CRJ900 jet was due for the technical maintenance and upgrade, a process that takes several weeks to complete, and had to be replaced by another one.
Usually, the engines have been changed either in South Africa or the Netherlands, as the nearest and most convenient places. However, this has previously involved flying a whole aircraft, with the engineers and the parts, to the maintenance centre, which is quite costly, at not less than 100,000 US Dollars (close to 400 Million Shillings), according to the company officials.
An AMO is an aviation company certified by a national aviation authority (in this case the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority) to conduct maintenance, repair, overhaul, or modification of aircraft, engines, propellers, or their parts. The Uganda Airlines AMO has more than 40 staff most of them trained at East African Civil Aviation Academy (Soroti Flying School) and Makerere University.
Currently, the facility is able to carry out land maintenance, (as opposed to base maintenance) which involves light tasks like changing tires, minor repairs, and inspections performed on an aircraft while it is still in its operating environment. Changing the engine has been the first major task.
Peter Emuge, head of engineering and maintenance at Uganda Airlines, in the next three years, the AMO should have the capacity to do some base maintenance.
Also known as heavy maintenance, it involves deep, scheduled inspections, like structural integrity checks, engine overhauls, major component replacements, and cabin reconfigurations to ensure the aircraft meets regulatory standards and extends its lifespan.
This development will also help reduce the overall cost of maintenance of the fleet, which is otherwise being pushed up by the costly parts and fuel, among others.
Spare Parts and Maintenance Eng Emuge dismissed as misinformation, local media reports that the parts, specifically for the CRJ 900, have become unavailable and that therefore, the company was planning to discontinue the use of the Canadian aircraft.
Instead, he says that there is a slowdown along the supply chain due to high demand and the stockists buying and holding them.
He says that during the COVID-19 pandemic, parts manufacturers cut down on production as the aviation industry slowed down almost to a halt.
A few years, however, after economies recovered, there was a sharp demand for both aircraft and parts, yet output was not growing at the same rate, causing long queues.
“Not just for the CRJ or Uganda Airlines, but the whole global aviation industry” he says.
Yet the demand for travel also means that the planes have to carry out heavier work so as to serve the growing passenger numbers and routes.
“Maintenance needs are high because of the increased flight frequencies and distances, which means aircraft are working more, hence the need for increased maintenance frequencies,” he says.
The other factor is the increase on stockists of the parts, who buy them from the manufacturers and hoard them, making the supply even slower, harder and more expensive.
Emuge says that the other intervention Uganda Airlines has opted for is engaging suppliers in long-term strategic arrangements with support from the manufacturers, ensuring that their procurement processes start way before the need for the part arises.
This is what happened with the newly installed engine on the CRJ number 5X-KNP, whose order was made long in time before the old engine could be due for replacement.
According to Simon Goodson, CEO of AerFin, the challenge of aircraft parts cuts across the whole industry, and for various reasons, especially slower output than demand.
“The aviation industry is facing a challenging period marked by a significant shortage of serviceable aircraft, engines and parts,” he says, adding that reports of airlines grappling with grounded fleets due to supply constraints are becoming increasingly common.
“British Airways, for example, has adjusted its flight schedule due to a lack of serviceable Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines for its 787 fleet, while half of Pakistan International Airlines’ fleet of 777 and A320 aircraft was recently out of service due to parts shortages. This challenge is not going away anytime soon — and may worsen before it improves”.
Jennifer Bamuturaki, Uganda Airlines CEO, also stressed that the shortage in supply of parts is affecting the whole industry, not just the national carrier or the Bombardier, but that planning ahead of time will help them maintain the operations with no disruption.
“There’s a year we were given a lot of flack for ordering for an engine and we were asking for money. That is the engine they have mounted,” she told the media.
“Some of our neighbors have two aircraft parked because they have no engine, but because we ordered one earlier, we had it in time the government bought us one. So the operations will be protected and we will be able to continue.”
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