ČSA signs aircraft maintenance with Transavia Airlines

Czech Airlines (ČSA) and Transavia Airlines signed a new aircraft maintenance agreement for the year 2007, with option for the following two years. Starting in October, ČSA will be performing mandatory 'heavy maintenance' visits on 28 Boeing 737 New Generation aircraft belonging to the Dutch carrier, Transavia Airlines.

"Transavia Airlines is a very smart buyer and a highly demanding customer, focusing strongly on quality and on-time performance. We are very proud of keeping Transavia as a long-term customer and we are committed to providing reliable and flexible services to keep their fleet flying in future years," said Tomáš Heczko, ČSA's Vice President Technical.

Czech Airlines and Transavia have been successfully cooperating in aircraft maintenance since 2003. So far, ČSA performed many heavy maintenance visits on Transavia Airlines'
35 Boeing 737NG at their facilities in Prague. Extension of this co-operation and signature of the new agreement is a confirmation of the quality of the services provided to Transavia by ČSA.

Michiel Meijer, Transavia's COO commented on the partnership: "It is our strategy to build long-term partnerships with our key suppliers and we are glad we found such a reliable maintenance partner at Czech Airlines. An extension of this partnership is therefore a natural decision and we hope it will provide growths opportunities for both sides."

Heavy maintenance checks include regular visits that are done every few months or years based on the level of intensity of the aircraft operation. They include checking all of the aircraft's systems and also an inspection of the technical condition of various important critical elements of the aircraft's structure.

The majority of ČSA's maintenance clients have these visits done every 12 – 24 months on their Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft. The man hours required for such visits ranges from 1,000 to 6,000 hours and the airplane spends 3-14 days in the hangar, based on the type of visit and the total amount of additional modifications required.

ČSA's technicians also perform the regular maintenance and checks of the airline's own fleet containing 50 aircraft including the ATR 42’s/72’s, Boeing 737’s and Airbus A310/A320/A321’s. ČSA offers its technical services, specifically its heavy maintenance, to external clients which, besides Transavia Airlines, include such carriers as Air Berlin, Lufthansa Technik, Hapag Lloyd Flug and others. The aircraft maintenance and regular checks are performed by ČSA under a license issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).