Swords to ploughshares

A year into the five-year contract, Australian Aviation visited the hangar at Melbourne’s Tullamarine to assess the progress of Australia’s latest, and most quietly ambitious, Maintenance Repair Organisation (MRO).

Part 145

BAE Systems supplanted John Holland Aviation Services as Tigerair’s MRO provider, with John Holland subsequently exiting the sector after on-going losses.

BAE Systems, for its part, had committed itself to enter the commercial aircraft sustainment sector, confident of its ability to apply the deep and broad knowledge it had acquired maintaining military aircraft the world over. The first step was securing accreditation under CASA’s Civil Aviation Safety Regulations Part 145, which outlines the requirements of Approved Maintenance Authorities that ‘provide maintenance services for regular public transport aircraft and/ or their aeronautical products for aircraft operated under an existing Air Operators Certificate’.

Once duly certified and compliant, BAE Systems were able to assumethe provision of base maintenance services to Tigerair, having taken possession of the former Tenix hangar at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport, which had been upgraded with improved power supplies, warehousing and lighting.

Over a year later and the company finds itself operating in three capital city airports on Australia’s east coast as it meets or exceeds the expectations of itself and its customer. Nic Maan, general manager – aircraft integration maintenance and support at BAE Systems Australia, told Australian Aviation how the company’s extensive knowledge of military aircraft sustainment translates to the commercial arena.

“As part of our safety management system and with having authorised maintenance organisation accreditation from the military, we’re able to bring across a good deal of our processes and procedures and apply a lot of experience and lessons learnt through that process that we could tailor to the CASR Pt 145. We’re audited very heavily by CASA, rightfully so. Also, we’ve started on our Continuous Improvement Process for 145.

What we’re finding is that there are actually a lot of similarities – the regulations are different, but the way we apply ourselves is very similar across the business. We’re able to move our support people between the two businesses quite easily. ” Fitting one of Tigerair’s A320’s inside its Tullamarine hangar was never going to present a problem – the same hangar had been used to upgrade RAAF 707s, C-130s and P-3s – but filling the facility with the right range of skilled personnel was the challenge faced by the startup MRO.

“We’ve tried to mix the best of what we bring and also bring in some good subject matter experts (SME) in terms of the commercial area,” Maan explained.

“We have recognised that there was areas that we needed help, so we brought people in. We’ve struck a balance between being very costeffective – the airline industry is very competitive and some of the lessons in delivering savings to Defence under the [Strategic Reform] Program, have stood us in good stead – and still really drawing on cultures of quality and safety at the same time. It’s an important balancing act. ” Currently, the company employs 65 to 70 permanent staff, augmented by contractors to manage a sudden surge in defects or AOGs (aircraft on ground). The hangar at Tullamarine handles four night shifts a week, while line checks are performed on Tigerair aircraft in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. In addition, BAE Systems has a casual arrangement with the carrier to provide line maintenance at remote sites.

There are actually a lot of similarities – the regs are different, but the way we apply ourselves is very similar. NIC MAAN

The hangar at Tullamarine handles four night shifts a week.

Deep pockets

With global revenues of $29 billion, the initial impression might be that BAE Systems’ size allows it to ‘wear the hurt’ that comes with the tight margins of the commercial airline business. But Maan explained that that was not his company’s approach.

“When we stood up this capability there was an investment made by the company, I had to gain approval from the broader BAE company to show an investment case that gave a return and satisfy our shareholders. We’re not taking pain, the idea is to make money for our shareholders and be a viable long-term business. It’s important to run it as a growing concern and be honest about what it will cost and what we can deliver and that stands us in good stead with Tiger. We’ve found a good balance between quality and safety and a reasonably competitive rate. We’re certainly not the cheapest around but I think our delivery speaks for itself. ”

Anatomy of an A-check

As a MRO, it is BAE Systems’ responsibility to conduct line checks of Tigerair’s aircraft around the clock, every day of the year. This usually involves a visual inspection of the Airbus and checking its maintenance books for entries and servicing needs.

A-checks are performed in the hangar and are often performed by a nightshift who, using special tools and test equipment, will open all access panels and service designated items, including engines. An A-check may also include an external visual inspection of the aircraft structure for evidence of damage, corrosion or missing components, testing of the crew oxygen system pressure, emergency lights and BITE equipment.

Maan explained that BAE Systems will work with Tigerair and its logistics provider in the lead-up to an A-check by warehousing rotable items (newor used components that can be repeatedly restored to a working and serviceable condition), which can be anything from rivets, to lubricants, engines, wheels, avionics and mechanical assemblies.

“We, ourselves, don’t define what’s in the A-check, that’s up to Tigerair and their fleet technical management organisation that they use. They’ll define what tasks are in that A-check for us to undertake. Then, about 30 days out from each A-check we begin the planning process with Tiger and, as the customer, they provide us the planning packs, and talk to us about what that check will involve, and we’ll start making sure we’ve got the spares and consumables we need. With each A-check the content will vary, depending on what’s coming up, what’s due, how it works in with the other C-checks that the aircraft has gone through, what defects we have to rectify. There’s also a number of milestones leading up to the A-check where we confirm what bits of maintenance are in that particular check at the time. ” Engine removal and servicing is within BAE Systems’ remit, but overhaul is not.

“We treat the engine as a rotable item – they come in from Tigerair’s suppliers, and we manage them on behalf of that supplier ’til they’re put on the wing, then, after an engine change, send the engine back. [Overhaul] doesn’t fit the adjacent market strategy, and we have lot more to go before we think about engines. ” The A320 undergoing its A-check on the evening of Australian Aviation’s visit involved a servicing task on its IAE V2500 two-shaft, high-bypass ratio turbofan. This culminated in a high-power engine run after midnight conducted, mercifully for nearby residents, at taxiway Bravo at the far end of Tullamarine’s RWY34, to where the aircraft had been towed and secured.

Future growth path

After a little over a year, all parties involved remain pleased with BAE Systems’ progress and performance as it slowly begins to prove itself as an MRO. And while Tigerair’s full takeover by Virgin Australia hasn’t yet resulted in further opportunities to BAE Systems’ new MRO business, Maan did acknowledge that: “Virgin and other prospective customers are watching with a keen eye on how we’re going. ” Pointing to future growth paths for the division, he continued: “We see it as two parts – we want to deepen capability and get more volume through and offer more competitive pricing and we do that by increasing volume through this hangar and other facilities we might choose to use. So that’s what we’re working on with new prospective customers. The other area that we’re trying to concentrate on now, we’re really only bringing to bear a very small piece of BAE Systems’ capability in supporting aircraft. We want to deepen it through extra volume and broaden it out through BAE Systems through-life support capability. We’re taking a considered approach. The last 12 months have been very much getting into the market and delivering from day one and really bedding in capability and culture. Now we’re thinking about how we start growing. ” And by virtue of the length of its contract with its customer, BAE Systems’ future expansion as an

So far, we’ve had a strategy of sticking with one aircraft type. NIC MAANM

RO is very much harnessed to Tigerair’s future fleet planning.

“We have to spend time trying to analyse what the plans of various customers will be, so we can position ourselves to be able to support them and structure our workforce, capability and licences to potentially support those organisations in the future. It’s an interesting decision to make in terms of aircraft type and whether or not we go bigger, stick with the A320 or go with 737. So far, we’ve had a strategy of sticking with one aircraft type and that’s helped our focus on staying good at what we do. It’s a complex decision because of the overheads involved in moving to new aircraft types and we want to do that in a way that keeps us competitive. ” For the moment, however, BAE Systems’ MRO is concentrating on line maintenance, overnight line maintenance, defect rectification and Aircraft on Ground (AOG) support before thinking about heavier maintenance (such as C-checks), which, for airlines such as Virgin and Tiger, are performed offshore at a price that domestic firms find difficult to match.

Earning its stripes

For its part, Tigerair’s CEO Rob Sharp has stated that moving to BAE Systems has already resulted in greater efficiencies and improvements in on-time performance. And if the defence contractor’s foray into commercial aviation maintenance pays off, it will owe Tigerair an enduring debt of gratitude.

As Nic Maan explained: “A lot of credit goes to Tigerair – they took a decision to do something different and to try to build a partnership, and you can only do that with a long-term relationship with each other. It showed a lot of faith in us. I think we’re repaying that faith in terms of service delivery and it allows us to set ourselves up to deliver for them. We don’t have to worry about the short term. ”