owners_operatorsguide_777.pdf

8/9/2019 Owners_OperatorsGuide_777.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/ownersoperatorsguide777pdf 1/22

OWNER’S & OPERATOR’S GUIDE:777-200/-300

i) Specifications, page 6

ii) Fuel burn performance, page 8iii) Modification & upgrade programmes, page 10iv) Maintenance analysis & budget, page 12iv) Technical support providers’ survey, page 24



AIRCRAFTCOMMERCE ISSUE NO. 60 • OCTOBER/N OVEMBER 2008

6 I AIRCRAFT OPERATOR’S & OWNER’S GUIDE

The 777 family is used mainly forlong-haul operations, althoughoperators in the Asia Pacicalso use it for medium-haul

services. The 777 family is ba sed o n tw oba sic variants: t he -200 series and la rger

-300 series. Within each series there are anumber of variants, w ith longer rangecapability achieved through highermaximum take-off weight (MTOW),matched with higher engine thrust.

The rst variant of the shorter -200series entered service in June 1995 w ithUnited Airlines, and has an MTOW of545,000lbs (247,200kg). The -200’sstandard three-class seat capacity is 305passengers. The rst variant of the longer-300 series entered service in May 1998w ith Cathay Pacic and has an MTOWof 660,000lbs (299,370kg). The -300series can carry an additiona l 50 extrapassengers in a tri-class conguration.

Boeing has also launched ultra-long-rang e versions of the -200 and -300. Theextended range -200ER can y 7,700nm(14,260km), which gives it an additionalrange of abo ut 2,500nm on the standard-200. This model w as origina llydesignated t he -200IG W, f or In creasedG ross Weight. It ha d a n increasedMTOW, to take account of its ad ditionalfuel capacity, which was 656,000lbs(297,550kg).

Boeing has introduced tw o ultra-long-range passenger variants: the -200LR andthe -300ER. These have additional rangeand MTOWs.

The 777-200LR has the -200’sfuselage, a standard passengercongurat ion of 301 seats, an M TOW of766,000lbs and 9,380nm range. It ispow ered by the GE90-110B, rated at110,000lbs thrust (see tabl e, page 7) .

The 777-300ER has the samepassenger capacity as the -300, a range of7,930nm and an MTOW of 775,000lbs(see tabl e, page 7) .

The last quarter of 2008 will see theentry into service of the rst 777Ffreighter. This is based on the 777-200LR, and has the same MTOW as the-200LR. It has a structural payload of226,700lbs and range of 4,885nm.

Engine options

GE90 seriesThe G E90 engine is the only engine to

be offered o n all 777 mo dels. There aresix G E90 variant s across the 777 eet.These start w ith the G E90-76B, rat ed at77,000lbs thrust for t he 777-200, andcontinue to the GE90-115B, rated at115,000lbs thrust for the -300ER (see tabl e, page 7) . O nly the G E90-94B andthe G E90-115B are in production.

The G E90-94B is rated a t 94,000lbsthrust, a nd has ha d its performanceimproved by a three-dimensionalaerod yna mic high pressure compressor(HPC) and other new technologies. The-94B’s 10-stage HPC is driven by a two-stage high pressure turbine (HPT). Thethree-stage low pressure compressor(LPC) is driven by a six-stage low pressure turbine (LPT). The engine is theheaviest and longest 777 engine option,at over 16,500lbs and 287 inches.

G E is now offering a PerformanceImprovement Package (PIP) w hich canupgrad e an operat or’s current GE90engine to a standa rd similar to tha t of theG E90-94B. The adva nta ges consist of a1.6% fuel burn improvement and about a20°C increase in Exhaust Ga sTemperat ure (EGT) ma rgin, therebyproviding an improvement in operatingcosts.

The G E90-115B is the o nly enginetype ava ilable on t he 777-300ER. Thisform of the G E90 has one less HPC stage,but one more LPC than the -94B.

For the 777-200LR and -200F, theG E90-115B is derated to 110,000lbs ofthrust and d esignat ed the GE90-110B.The GE90-110B has a at ra tedtemperature of 92° F, w hile all otherG E90s (including the -115B) are at rat edat 86° F.

The fan diameter for the standardG E90 is 123 inches, and ha s a bypa ssratio of 8.7.

The -110B an d -115B have a largerfan d iameter of 128 inches, and a bypassratio of 7.2.

PW4000-112 seriesThe PW4000-112 has a fa n dia meter

of 112 inches. This engine is operated onthe 777-200, -300 and -200ER, a nd ha sbecome the most popular option on the-200. There are ve va riant s of thePW4000-112, rang ing fro m 74,000lbs to98,000lbs of thrust (see tabl e, page 7) .

All ve engine models have a singlestage fan, a tw o-stage HPT driving the11-stage HPC and a six-stage LPC drivenby a seven-stage LPT. All have a by passratio of 6.4 and a a t rating temperatureof 86° F/30° C . This engine series is one ofthe heaviest available for commercialaircraft, second o nly to the G E90.

The rst PW4000-112 engine wa s anindustry rst, with 180-minute ETOPS(extended-range tw in-engine operations)qua lied b efore it entered service in 1995.The PW4084 went on to be the rstengine approved fo r 207-minute ETO PS.

The PW4084 wa s the third engine inthe series. It has a thrust rating of84,600lbs, and is opera ted on the -200and -200ER. The PW4090 is rated at91,790lbs, and is opera ted on the -200,-200ER and -300. The PW4098 is onlyoperated on the 777-300, and has athrust rating of 98,000lbs.

Trent 800 seriesThere are ve basic variants of the

Trent 800 w hich pow er the 777-200,-200ER and -300. These have thrustratings between 75,000lbs and 95,000lbs(see tabl e, page 7) . The Trent 800 is themost popula r engine selection on th e 777models it powers.

All Trent 800 mo dels have a fa ndiameter of 110 inches and a a t ratetemperature of 86° F/30° C, except theTrent 895 which ha s 77° F. Bypa ss rat iosfor each model vary, with the ratiodecreasing as the thrust ra ting increases.

The Trent 875 has a thrust of75,000lbs with a bypa ss ratio of 6.2 andonly operates on the -200. The Trent 877,also only operated on the -200, is rated at77,000lbs thrust and has a 6.1 bypassratio . The Trent 884 has a thrust of over84,000lbs and a bypass ratio of 5.9. Thefamily’s two most powerful engines arethe Trent 892 and Trent 895 with92,000lbs and 95,000lbs thrustrespectively and a smaller bypass ratio of5.8.

All ve mod els have the same enginecomposition: the fan d riven by a ve-stage LPT; a single-stage H PT driving thesix-stage HPC; and a single intermediatepressure turbine (IPT) driving an eight-stage int ermediate pressure compressor(IPC).

The Trent 800 fo llow s the stand ardbuild of the Trent family with nextgeneration wide-chord fans and three-shaft a rchitecture, so the add itional IPT

777-200& -300specicationsThe 777-200/-300 family is powered by threemain engine types. There are several weight,fuel capacity and range specification variants of the two series.




8 I AIRCRAFT OWNER’S & OPERATOR’S GUIDE

The fuel burn and operatingperformance of four o f the vepassenger variant s of th e 777aircraft a re analysed and

assessed. All three engine familiespow ering these aircraf t a re represented inthis analysis.

Aircraft variantsThe 777-200 has three different

varia nts: the -200, -200ER a nd the-200LR. All three have ana lysed here, asw ell as the -300ER.

All three engine manufa cturers arerepresented for the -200 and -200ER. The-200LR a nd -300ER a re pow eredexclusively by the G E90-110B/-115B.

The engines selected for the analysisof the 777-200 all have a thrust rating ofabout 77,000lbs, making a faircompa rison betw een the airfr ame-enginecombinations possible. The three enginevaria nts chosen are the G E90-76B,PW4077 and Trent 877, because they arethe most popular thrust ra ting andvariants for the -200, particularly thePW4077 engine.

The maximum ta ke off w eight(MTOW) for the aircraf t is 545,000lbs.

The same basis of comparison hasbeen used for the 777-200ER, but usingfour engine options. The two mostcommon thrust ratings powering the-200ER a re 90,000lbs and 94,000-95,000lbs. The low er thrust is covered bythe GE90-90B and PW4090 pow eringaircraft w ith an M TOW of 656,000lbs.The higher thrust of 93,700lbs isrepresented by the G E90-94B and Trent

895, also pow ering aircraft w ith anMTOW of 656,000lbs.

The 777-200LR ha s an M TOW o f766,000lbs and is the longest-range 777varia nt. It has been assessed using theonly engine currently availa ble, which isthe GE90-110B with a thrust rating of110,000lbs.

The 777-300ER is no w the only -300series variant available from Boeing andis offered w ith t he highest-rated engine,the G E90-115B. The engine beingassessed therefore has a rat ing of115,000lbs thrust, and the aircraft has anMTOW of 775,000lbs.

There are many thrust and MTOWvaria tions used by d ifferent airlines. Thebasic specications, as stated by themanuf acturers, have been used fo r thesecalculations.

Flight profilesAircraft performa nce has been

analysed both in-bound and out-boundfor each route in order to illustrate theeffects of wind speed and its direction onthe actual distance ow n, otherwiseknown as equivalent still air distance(ESAD ). Average historical w inds and

temperatures for the month of Octoberhave been used in th e ight plan sproduced by Jeppesen. The ight pro lesin each case are based on InternationalFlight Rules, w hich include standa rdassumptions on fuel reserves, diversionfuel, plus contingency fuel. A taxi t ime of25 minutes has been fa ctored into the fuelburns and added to the ight times to getblock t imes. Lo ng-range cruise (LRC )speed ha s been used. This is slow er thanother cruise speeds, but it consumes lessfuel per nautical mile, thereby allowingthe aircraft to y further. Economy cruise

is more likely fo r shorter ights. Thisprovides an economical and operationalcompromise between fuel consumptionand ight time. The LRC speed isdifferent for each a irfram e-enginecombination, a s designated by themanufacturer. The speeds and the effectson th e block times are show n. There aresome large varia tions given the lengths ofthe rout es.

The passenger a irfra me and enginecombinations analysed have beenassumed to have full three-class passengerpayloads. The seat congurations usedare Boeing’s standard layouts of 305 seatsfor the 777-200 and 368 seats for the777-300.

An alternative cabin layout o n thelonger-range 777-200LR and -300ERincludes a crew rest area above the cabin.This reduces the passenger seat counts to301 and 365 respectively.

For the purposes of t his ana lysis, thepassenger complement has been left thesame for simplicity. The standa rd w eightfor each pa ssenger and their luggage isassumed to be 220lbs with no additionalcargo. The payload carried is therefore61,000lbs for the 777-200s and73,600lbs for the -300.

Routes analysisMost of the big airlines in each of the

globa l areas operat e 777s. The majorityoperate the aircraft on long-haul routes,but some operators in the Asia Pacic use

777 fuel burnperformanceThe fuel burn performance of the 777’s mostnumerous variants with different engine selectionsare analysed.

The 777-300ER has the lowest fuel burn per seat of all 777 variants and models. This is mainly due to it having 17% more seats but burningonly a little more fuel than the -200ER.




ISSUE NO. 60 • OCTOBER/N OVEMBER 2008 A IRCRAFTCOMMERCE

it o n high-density, short- to medium-haulroutes.

The rst route to be analysed isLondon Heathrow (LHR) to H ouston(IAH ) using the 777-200 and three engineoptions. This reects many of theintercontinental ro utes on w hich the 777-200 is used, by a irlines such asContinental and Emirates. Ellington FieldAirport (EFD ) is used as the alterna te forIAH. Lo ndon Stansted (STN) is used a sthe alternate on the return sector t o LH R.

The rst sector of LHR-IAH hasblock times of 680-718 minutes, and hasa tracked distance of 4,349nm. Thissector is hampered by a head w ind of 29-30kts and an ESAD of 4,642-4,654nm.The return sector to LHR has a trackeddistance of 4,269nm, a nd experiences ata ilwind of 37kts. This results in shorterblock times of 583-599 minutes and anESAD of 3,928-3,940nm.

The second route to be ana lysed isLondon H eathrow to Tokyo Narita(NRT) for the 777-200ER a nd t he-300ER. This is a longer ro ute typical o fthose on which the -200ER and -300ERare used by la rge airlines such as JAL andANA.

The alternate airport on the route toNRT is Nago ya (NG O), w hile STN is thealternate for the operation to LH R. TheLHR-NRT sector has a tracked distanceof 5,365nm, with a ta il wind of 15-166kts. Block t imes were 678-720minutes and the ESAD is about5,200nm.

The return sector of NR T-LH R has a

headwind of 11kts, which increases theight time by an hour, even though thetracked distance is shorter at 5,342nm.ESAD is 5,473nm. The -300ER completesboth sectors about 10 minutes faster thanthe -200ER.

The na l route of Toront o (YYZ ) toH ong Kong (H KG ) is used for the 777-200LR. This city-pair is an Air Canadaroute. The diversion a irports used hereare Ottawa (YOW) on the route to YYZ,and M acau (MFM) on the route to HKG .Both sectors are similar, having blocktimes of 940-957 minutes. The averagetracked distance of 7,286nm, a nd theroute tail winds in both directions are 11knots to H KG , and 32 knots to YYZ.

Fuel burn performanceThe fuel burn performan ce of each

airframe-engine combination is shown(see tab le, th is page) for a ll routes alongwith the associated fuel burn perpassenger and per passenger-mile.

On the rst route, LHR -IAH a ndIAH -LHR , the G E90-76B comes out w iththe best fuel burn per pa ssenger of 66.4USG on the return sector, but it has theslow est ight time, although only byabout 10 minutes. The PW4077 is closein fuel burn perform ance to the G E90.The Trent-877-equipped aircraft did notperform as well on fuel burn as the othertw o engines on this ro ute. The seeminglyfast block time on the rst sector is due tothe reduced payload, which is necessaryin order for this combination to complete

the ight.The 777-200ER va riants ha ve burns

of 77.8-83.7USG per passenger on t hesecond ro ute of LHR -NRT, w ith thePW4090 being the best performer. O n theNR T-LH R ro ute, fuel burns are 82.0-92.6USG per passenger.

The larger 777-300ER has low erburns of 73.1USG per passenger on LHR -NR T, a nd 80.1USG per passenger onNR T-LHR (see tab le, th is page) . This isbecause 17% more passengers arecarried, resulting in o nly a 5-12% higherfuel burn compared to the -200ER.

On the third route of YYZ-HKG, the777-200LR has a burn of 121.7USG, anda block time of 957 minutes. It follows atracked distance of 7,350nm and ha s anESAD of 7,190nm. Burn per passenger isalmost the same, w ith an ESAD of6,837nm and block time of 940 minutes(see tab le, thi s page) .

If all ights had been ow n at thesame speeds, then the results aga in w ouldhave been that the PW4090 had both thefastest times and lowest fuel burn on theLH R-NRT sector.

Once fuel burn per passenger-mile isanalysed then there is little variation withroute length. The largest factor having animpact on burn per passenger-mile isaircraft size and seat count, w hich isillustra ted b y t he -300ER’s 12-14% low erburn.

To download 100s of articleslike this, visit:

www.aircraft-commerce.com

FUELBURN PERFORMANCE OF 777

City-pair Aircraft Engine MTOW TOW Fuel Block Passenger ESAD Fuel Wind variant model lbs lbs burn time payload nm per speed

USG mins lbs seat

LHR-IAH 777-200 GE90-76B 545,000 529,297 23,324 690 67,100 4,654 76.5 -29777-200 PW4077 545,000 528,901 23,183 718 67,100 4,642 76.0 -30777-200 Trent 877 545,000 534,032 24,174 680 65,000 4,649 79.3 -29

IAH-LHR 777-200 GE90-76B 545,000 511,375 20,240 599 67,100 3,928 66.4 37777-200 PW4077 545,000 515,483 20,551 583 67,100 3,940 67.4 37777-200 Trent 877 545,000 517,870 21,001 589 67,100 3,938 68.9 37

LHR-NRT 777-200ER GE90-90B 656,000 546,619 25,062 718 67,100 5,210 82.2 15777-200ER GE90-94B 656,000 546,076 25,010 720 67,100 5,200 82.0 15777-200ER PW4090 656,000 537,979 23,728 678 67,100 5,196 77.8 16777-200ER Trent 895 656,000 550,409 25,517 716 67,100 5,202 83.7 15777-300ER GE90-115B 775,000 616,029 26,901 711 80,960 5,200 73.1 15

NRT-LHR 777-200ER GE90-90B 656,000 563,708 27,544 776 67,100 5,473 90.3 -11777-200ER GE90-94B 656,000 563,155 27,453 779 67,100 5,473 90.0 -11777-200ER PW4090 656,000 454,054 25,022 713 67,100 5,474 82.0 -12777-200ER Trent 895 656,000 569,547 28,254 773 67,100 5,475 92.6 -11

777-300ER GE90-115B 775,000 633,908 29,468 766 80,960 5,471 80.1 -11

YYZ-HKG 777-200LR GE90-110B 766,000 670,123 37,127 957 67,100 7,190 121.7 11

HKG-YYZ 777-200LR GE90-110B 766,000 669,322 36,624 940 67,100 6,837 120.1 32

Source: Jeppesen





There have been a number ofmodi cations and upgrades thathave taken place on the 777.The majorit y ha ve been

Airwo rthiness Directives (AD s) andService Bulletins (SBs). There have alsobeen optional improvements. One option,which is regularly taken up by most

passenger airlines, is the recongurationand improvement of their cabinenvironments and interior layouts.Another option has been theimprovement of certain aspects of the777’s operatio nal costs. This part icularimprovement is offered by Boeing as thePerformance Improvement Package (PIP).

Performance improvementThe 777-200LR has enhancements in

its design that were not in place forprevious models. These improvements inw eight, dra g, a nd therefore fuel burn,have provided o perators w ith costsavings. These enhancements were thenincluded on all new 777-300ER aircraft

delivered after November 2005, with AirFrance taking delivery of the rst aircraftw ith the improvements. Thedevelopments on the 777-200LR a ndfreighter, which trickled down to the all-new -300ER, w ill shortly be ava ilable asa P IP fo r old er 777s. This includes theearlier built -300ERs.

Older 777-300ERs had alreadyshown an improvement of up to 2% infuel burn by o perators w ith aircraft inrevenue service, compared to what hadbeen expected prior to delivery. The new-300ERs have an overall ef ciencyimprovement of 1.4% due to the PIP, inaddition to the initial 2% improvement.

The -300ER package involvesmodifying the vortex generators and theair induction systems for theenvironmental control systems in order toreduce the amount of d rag caused by theaircraft’s shape. In ad dition, the a ircraft’sweight has been reduced by the utilisationof lighter materials for internal structuressuch as the maindeck oor panels. The1.4% improvement in fuel ef ciency,

according to Boeing, equa tes to a n annualfuel saving of a t least 200,000 US G allons(USG). For a f uel price of $2 per USG , anannua l saving o f $400,000-500,000 peraircraft can be made.

These improvements form the ba sis ofthe PIP, which will provide each aircraft1% more efciency, thereby enabling

older models to perform more likeyounger ones.

Boeing began of fering the PIP at thestart of 2008, and it is expected to becertied by the Federal AviationAuthority (FAA) and t o be in o perationby April 2009. It has been taken up by atleast 13 airlines, including many of thelarger 777 operators. British Airways(BA) is one of the lat est opera tors toorder the PIP modica tion for a ll its older777s. BA and Boeing believe that the PIPw ill provide an annual fuel saving of atleast $200,000 per aircraf t (assuming acrude oil price of $70-100 per barrel),which represents a potential saving ofover $8 million per year acro ss the w hole777 eet.

Boeing has stated that the changeswill reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3million lbs per aircra ft per y ear. Thepotential reduction in both fuelconsumption and carbo n dioxideemissions has gone a long w ay toencouraging operators to order the PIP.

The PIP includes low -pro le vortexgenerators, an enhanced ram air systemand drooped ailerons. Boeing has saidthat it is still looking at furthermodications to add to the PIP. Dan daSilva, vice president of sales at BoeingCo mmercial Aviation Services, ha s statedthat “ the 777 is among the most efcient,environmentally progressive airplanes inoperation, but w e must continue topursue these performa nce gains” . If t tedto all 777-200, 200ER and -300 aircraft,

777-200/-300modication programmesThe major modification & upgrade programmes for the 777 include aperformance improvement programme, a drag reduction modification,engine upgrades and avionic enhancements.

The 777-300ER had a 2% better fuel burn performance than predicted when it first entered service, and the performance improvement programme realises a further 1.4% reduction in fuel consumption.





that would amount to over 500 aircraft.This excludes the older -300ERs.

Airframe modificationsReduction in drag of a ny aircraft is

important and on the 777 this has beenimproved, in part through the PIP, bymodifying the aircraft’s vortex generators.Vortex g enerat ors ar e small extensionsthat maintain steady air ow over the

wing surface. Changing their size orlocation can seriously help or hinder anaircraft’s a erodynamics.

Another change to come from the PIPis on the environmental control systems.The air induction systems are modied toreduce drag. By drooping the outboardailerons even more when aps areextended, drag is again reduced.Although ailerons control an aircraft’sbanking movements, they also affect thelift on ta ke-off a nd landing.

A major aspect of any aircraft d esignis reducing its overall weight whileincreasing its power and payload ability.Since the 777 rst entered service, lighterparts have been developed to furtherreduce the weight o f the 777. Thepredominant aspect has been theincreased use of composite ma terials suchas aluminium alloys and titanium. Themaindeck oor panels can now bereplaced with much lighter panelsw ithout losing strength, and the ducts ofthe environmental control system arenow made from lighter materials too.

Engine modificationsWhile developing t he G E90-94B, a nd

w ith the G E-115B in mind, G eneralElectric (G E) developed a PIP for t heG E90-90B. This package wa s offered atG E’s fa cility in South Wales and could beintegrated during normal maintenance.The advanced 3-D aerodynamiccomponents of the -115B w ere includedin the package along w ith new seals andturbine technology to improve theengine’s performance a nd th e thrust inpart icular. This all came to gether toproduce a 1.6% fuel burn improvementand a n add itional exhaust temperaturemargin of more than 20 degrees Celsius.Other improvements included longer on-w ing times, increased payload s andreduced maintenance costs.

G E developed the G E90-115 for the777-300ER a nd d e-rat ed the enginedesign for the -200LR a nd 777F.D evelopments included aspects thatimprove fuel efciency, thrust and thenoise levels of the engines. The improvedcombustor means that the engine isproducing no more than 50% of thecarbo n dioxid e levels currently allow edby international standards.

Tw o ma jor Service Bulletins (SBs)were issued with regard to the thrustreverser V-blade. The rst, SB777-78-0061, required the inspection and change,if necessary, of the outer V-blade. Thesecond, SB777-53-0042, refers to thesplice plate assembly change of oorpanels.

AvionicsThe rst major avionics upgrade since

1995 involved the introduction of animproved Airplane InformationM ana gement System (AIMS) called Aims-2. This upgrade promises to be smaller,faster, less expensive and easier to usethan the original system.

There have been six major SBs issuedaffecting the Electronic Flight Bag (EFB)and associated ight deck technology.

SB777-78A requested t he installat ionof a class 3 EFB dual display system.

SB777-46-0015 requested theinstallation of a n on-board netw orkserver, software and terminal wirelessLAN unit.

SB777-46-0018 then dealt w ith theinstallation o f ha rdw are, such a s Ethernetports and personal computer (PC) poweroutlets. As passenger airlines have ha d t otighten up security, on-boa rd security hasalso been increased, w ith items such as

cockpit d oor surveillance systems. SB777-23-0231 involved the de-modication ofthe system. The communica tions systemshave been upgraded by the installation ofa single HSD Satcom transceiver and 3-channel Satcom system as referred to inSB777-23-0257.

SB777-34-0132 dealt w ith back-upand requested the installation of anintegrated stand by ight display system.

Airworthiness DirectivesThe 777 has had ADs issued aga inst

four main areas since it entered service.The rst one is SB777-27A-0073,

w hich involved modi cations to the ightcontrols, trailing edge aps and o utboarda p support gimba l plate change.

The second AD is SB777-27A-0071,w hich related to the ap pin.Mo dica tions were made to the trailingedge ap support pin, ball set andbushing replacement.

The third AD, SB777-57-0054,related to the torq ue tube. Modi cationsw ere made on the w ing, trailing edge andtrailing edge devices. The inboard apand inboard support w ere replaced.

The fourth area involved the thrustreverser and incorpora ted SB777-78A-0065 and SB777-53A-0044. Bo th o f t heseinvolved inspections, the rst covering theinner-wall thermal insulation blanket andits associat ed pan el. The secondinspection, for corrosion, w as of t hefuselage skin pa nels on Section 43 andsection 46. Preventative measures were tobe underta ken if necessary.

While the 777 has had various ADs and SBsissued, it has not yet had any major ADs issued that incur high costs or are serious safety-related issues.







The 777 family ha s been asuccessful programme,becoming a long-haulw orkhorse for ma ny operators,

and displacing the 747 from this role inthe process. The rst 777 entered servicein 1997, and there are now 729 aircraft

in operation and another 357 on rmorder.

The maximum take-off weights(MTOWs) and ra nge capabilities of the -200 and -300 series have been steadilyextended since 1997. The majority ofaircraft are used on long- or ultra-long-haul missions. Earlier-built -200s and -300s are used on regional an d medium-range services, par ticularly in the AsiaPacic. All aircraft o n rm o rder arelong-range mod els.

The most not able feature of the 777 isits maintenance programme, whichcomprises about 2,000 tasks with a rangeof different intervals and interval criteria.Operators are free to group tasks intochecks tha t suit t heir operating schedulesand maintenance planning.

777-200/-300 in operationThe 777-200 can broa dly b e divided

into low, medium and high gross weightaircra ft. There is also t he specialist ultra -high gross weight -200LR powered by theG E90-110B (see 777 f amil y specicatio ns, page 6) .

The long-range group comprises themost aircraft, with 375 in service. Thelow gross weight category is the secondlargest with 58 aircraft, while there are42 medium-w eight a ircraft . There arealso 21 -200LRs in operation, whileanother 28 are on rm order.

The low gross weight aircraftcomprise: 41 PW4074/77-pow eredaircraft o perated by Air C hina, AllNippon Airways (ANA), a nd Ja panAirlines (JAL); four G E90-85B-pow eredaircraft o perated by C hina Southern; and13 Trent-875/77/90-pow ered ai rcra ftoperated by C atha y Pacic and ThaiInternational. These aircraft are alloperated by carriers in the Asia Pacicand are used on short -haul, h igh-densitymissions. The aircraft operated by China

Southern, C atha y, Thai International andAir China are used on medium-haulservices with ight cycle (FC) times of2.3-3.2FH and annual utilisations of2,800-3,900FH. The ANA and JALaircraft are used on domestic Japaneseservices of about 1.2FH per FC and

annual utilisations of 2,000-2,200FH.Mo st medium gross w eight aircraft

are ma inly used on long-haul missions.United, Ko rean, Transa ero, BritishAirways (BA) and Continental Airlines alluse their aircraft on FC times of morethan 5.0FH, and Continental actually hasan average of 10FH. Emirates, KenyaAirways, and JAL have accumulated3,600-3,800FH at FC times of 3.2-5.1FH.

The majority of high gross weightaircra ft a re used on long-haul missions.The exception is Saudia , w hich requireshigh gross w eight performa nce because ofthe high a mbient temperatures itexperiences for its do mestic o perations.

Mo st high gross weight aircraftachieve 4,500-5,000FH per year at FCtimes of 5-10FH. Aeromexico, AirFrance, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines,Continental Airlines and Delta have thehighest a verage FC times of 9.0FH perFC a nd higher.

The -200LR eet is still small. Deltaoperates its aircraft in cycles of up to13FH and ha s utilisations of a bout5,600FH per year.

The -300 eet is relatively small, with56 aircraft. The aircraft w as acq uiredmainly by operators in the Asia Pacic toreplace 747s on high-density regionaloperations. Cathay, Singapore Airlines(SIA), Thai Internationa l and Korean Airall have FC times of 2.4-3.6FH, and haveannual utilisations of 2,700-4,500FH.

The ultra -high gro ss weight -300ER ismore popular than the -200LR. There are160 -300ERs in operation with theG E90-115B engine, with Air Cana da, AirFrance, Air India, ANA, Emirat es, EVAAir, Jet Airways, and SIA. Most eetsaccumulate at least 5,000FH per year andhave FC times of at least 8.0FH.

All 777-200s and -300s so fardelivered a re in o peration as pa ssenger-congured aircraft, a nd their

maintenance costs are analysed here foraircraft completing abo ut 3,000FH and1,000FC per year at an FC time of 3.0FHon medium-haul missions, and about4,750FH a nd 650FC per year at anaverage FC time of 7.5FH on long-haulmissions.

Maintenance programmeThe 777’s maintenance progra mmehas up to 2,000 tasks with varyingintervals. Operators are free to groupthese into maintena nce checks that suittheir operation s. The tasks a re listed inthe maintenance planning document(MPD). Each task is listed with itsrespective interval, which is specied inFH, FC or calendar time. Some taskscombine tw o of t hese interval criteria.

In ad dition t here are specic pre-departure, transit and daily checks.G eorge Sifnaios, maintenance program

manager for t he 757/777 at D elta TechOps, says that there are 125 intervalcombinations.

There are also a few other tasks withspecied intervals. These are inspectiontasks that need to be carried out upon acomponent’s removal, such as a zonalinspection of the auxiliary power unit(APU) compa rtment, o r engine mountinspection d uring an engine change.

“ The M PD includes all 1,700maintenance tasks for each model andconguration,” explains Nestor Koch,market & sales vice president at VEMMa intenance & Engineering. “ The rstsection of the MPD contains the systemmaintenance programme for all systemtasks, which total about 600. The secondsection is the structural ma intenanceprogramme for the external and internalstructural inspections, corr osionprevention and control tasks, and fatigue-related inspections w hich tota l about 800tasks. The third section is the zona linspection programme, which includesgeneral visual inspections in a par ticularzone of the aircraft to ensure thatcomponents, parts, w iring and tubing aresecurely attached, and inspections of thegeneral condition of any system orstructural items within a specic zone onthe aircraft. There are about 300 of thesetasks for each aircraft model andconguration.”

Sifnaios says that section 9 of theMPD covers airw orthiness limitations(AWLs) and certicat ion m aintenancerequirements (C M Rs). “ Thesupplementa l structural inspections a relisted in Section 9 ‘Airwo rthinessLimitations’ of the MP D, and concernthose Structural Signicant Items (SSIs)that do no t receive adequa te fatiguedamage detection from the initial baselinestructural programme and thereforerequire supplemental inspections,” saysSifnaios. “ These will begin after a d ened

777 familymaintenance analysis

& budgetThe 777-200/-300 have the lowest maintenancecosts in their size class. The twin-engine design andmaintenance programme contribute to low costs.





check w hich has to be perform ed at aninterval not exceeding 48 hours,”explains Ma tko D adic, sales manager atEurope Aviation .

Aircraft that are utilised on short- ormedium-haul services can have the dailycheck performed each day at theirhomebase, usually as a n overnight check.Aircraft used on long-haul operations areoften unable to return to homebase onceevery 24 h ours so, if permitted, a 48-hourinterval can a llow t he daily check to beperformed at the homebase when theaircraft returns, according to its operatingschedule. These checks have to beperformed by mechanics.

“ H ow ever, the tra nsit a nd pre-ightchecks can be carried out by ightcrew members after completion of a trainingprogramme authorised by the operator’slocal authority,” says Dadic. “ The transitcheck is perform ed at every tra nsit andfollow ing a da ily check, w hile the pre-ight checks are performed prior to eachdeparture.

“ An extended-range, tw in-enginedoperatio ns (Etops) service check also h asto be done prior to a n Etops ight,”continues D adic. “ These tasks cannot bedone by ightcrew, due to the specicEtops ta sks included in t he Etops servicecheck” . To o btain Etops approvaloperato rs must perform some specialMP D tasks. Examples of da ily tasks foran Etops include: reading the statusmessages, existing faults and fault historyand taking appropriate actions; checkingengines and the APU for oil consumption;and checking the cargo compartmentlinings for damage.

“ Next is the service check, w hich hasto be performed every eight days, or nomore than every 216 hours,” explainsD adic. “ This is oft en called the weekly

check by many operators.“ The pre-ight check ma inly

comprises visual inspections,” says D adic.“ Although routine checks can beperformed by ightcrew, any defects thatthey nd have to be rectied bymechanics. A defect can be deferred if it isa minimum equipment list (MEL) item.The length of the deferral is listed in theMEL. Items not listed in the MEL are no-go items, which means that they have tobe rectied before the aircraft can yaga in. The aircraf t’s technical log shouldalso b e exa mined to observe the listedoutstanding defects.”

Transit checks are almo st the same aspre-ight checks. “ The routine visualinspections o f t hese tw o checks includepitot tubes, lights, bay doors and accesspanels, slats and aps, engine inlets, andw heels and land ing gears,” continuesD adic. “ Interior inspections include itemssuch as radios, re detectors, ightdeckoxy gen and o ther emergency equipment.Other tasks include inspection of theradome latches, ram air inlet and outletdoors, left and right integrated-drivegenerator oil levels, and a fuel drain fromall fuel tanks.”

The Etops service check includes aninspection t o see that t he engine oil llercap seal is in good condition and that thecap is correctly tted.

D aily checks are slightly la rger incontent than transit and pre-ight checks.The routine tasks ar e the same as tho sefor transit and pre-ight checks, but alsoinclude additional tasks for linemechanics, such as the man ual checkingof tyre pressures, bra ke disc wear, andshock absorbers. Engine oil levels shouldalso b e checked, a s should the APU ba y.“ The daily check also includes ensuringthat the toilets and the potable w ater

system are serviced, and that thepassenger cabin is checked fo r generalconditio n an d cleanliness. The aircraft ’smaintenance log and cabin discrepancylog are also review ed,” says Dad ic.

Weekly checks have the same contentas the daily checks plus a few additionalta sks. “ These include examining themagnetic chip detectors and landing gearshock absorbers, draining and rellingw ater, a nd checking emergency ga sbottles and cargo compa rtment do ors,”

explains D adic.As w ell as the MPD tasks with transit

or daily intervals, operators can choose toinclude additio nal t asks in the line checksaccording to their own experience.

“ In addition to the pre-ight andtra nsit checks, which ar e valid up to f ourhours prior to the ight’s departure, thereis an af ter-landing check,” says WalidElkhaf, aircraft system senior engineer atEgyptair Maintenance & EngineeringC ompa ny. “ This is req uired af ter eacharrival at b ase for stops that are fourhours or more.”

Koch gives an example of a linemaintenance programme of pre-ight andtransit checks, a daily check at 48 hours,and a monthly check every 30 days.

An example of a line maintenanceprogramme is given by Fabrice Defrance,aircraft maintenance and engineering vicepresident at Air France Industries. “ Wehave the usual pre-ight, and then dailyand w eekly checks. The content o f thedaily and weekly checks is similar, withthe w eekly having just a few more tasks.We also have an ‘M ’ check, w hich has aninterval of 850FH. This is the rstsignicant check over the linemaintenance programme, a nd has a ninterval similar to ma ny operato rs’ ‘A’checks. This has a downtime of abouteight hours an d ta kes 20-30 ma n-hours(MH ) to complete. Our ‘ A’ check intervalis 1,200FH, and we hope to escalate thecheck to 1,500FH in 2009. This check isa hangar check.”

A checks & base maintenanceMo st operators group tasks with

intervals from about 500FH , 200FC and60 da ys into generic A checks or higherbase checks.

Delta’s programme for the 777 is oneexample. “ We used to ha ve an A checkevery 500FH, 100FC and 50 days,

The 777’s maintenance programme has about 2,000 tasks and 125 different task intervals.Operators are free to group tasks into checksaccording to their operation, rate of utilisationand FH:FC ratio. This makes maintenance planning more efficient and results in lower MH requirements than older generation aircraft.



w hichever interval w as reached rst,”says Sifnaios. “ We recently divided thisinto intervals of 250FH, 50FC a nd 25days to help us achieve our operationalgoals (see tab le, th is page) . This haseffectively ma de the checks into ha lf Achecks.

“ The next highest checks are our ‘ C’checks. We used to have a system of abase check every 12 months. Everysecond check w as a heavy check becausemany of t he structural tasks weregrouped into two-year intervals,”continues Sifna ios. “ The base check cyclew as effectively completed every eightchecks because the highest intervals ofmost ta sks coincided w ith the eighthcheck. La ter checks wo uld, how ever, ha vemore tasks because some have higherinitial thresholds. We have recentlychanged our base check system to a ‘C’check w ith intervals of 7,500FH ,1,250FC and 500 days, whichever isreached rst (see tab le, th is page) . At ourutilisation of about 5,250FH and 480FCper year, this check comes due every 16or 17 mo nths. This C check capturessystem, structural and zonal tasks. Thereis in fact no particular cycle of checks,and tasks are continuously a dded as theaircra ft a ges. There are, for example,tasks with intervals of 4,500 days or30,000FC. The 777 has a continuous,rather than cyclical, ma intenanceprogramme, which consists of 52 Cchecks. Every sixth check (C6, C 12, C 18etc) is the heavy check because it has 1C,2C, 3C and 6C tasks. The C7 check, bycomparison, has 1C and 7C tasks.”

The A check in VEM’s case has aninterval of 500FH, as well as intervals inFC a nd day s. Koch explains that there are1A, 2A, 3A 4A, 6A and 12A tasks w ithintervals that are corresponding multiplesof 500FH. The A check cycle is thereforecompleted at th e A12 check at 6,000FH.

Koch explains that, like all operators’base maintenan ce programmes, VEM’s isbased on grouping tasks. “ Mo ststructural tasks are those with intervals of4,000FC or higher, and many operatorsput these tasks into SC or heavymaint enance checks that h ave higherintervals than generic C checks, w hichhave mainly system-related tasks. We,how ever, had an o perator w ith a differentapproach. M ost of the system tasks werein the A check multiples. The 1C checkhad an interval of 10,000FH, 4,000FCand 750 day s, whichever w as reachedrst (see tab le, th is page) . M ost tasks inthe 1C check were structural and zonal,and so had ma inly FC a nd calendar timeintervals.”

Elkha f explains that Egyptair hasorga nised th e 777’s maintena nceprogramme into phases of 500FH, andthe equivalent FC a nd da y intervalsaccording to its pattern of operation, rateof utilisatio n and task intervals. Tasks aregrouped into a multiple of 500FHaccord ing to t heir interval. The intervalfor Egyptair’s generic ‘A’ check is 500FH,and the FC and d ay equivalents. “ Ther st A check is perform ed at t he rstphase of 500FH. The rst base or ‘C’check is performed at the 14th pha se,w hich is 7,500FH and 750 days, and t heFC equivalent (see tab le, th is page) . Ccheck multiples are therefore performedat multiples of these intervals. The heavycheck interval is at phase 72, w hich is36,000FH and 3,000 days, and the FCequivalent,” explains Elkha f. “ There arealso structural tasks, which are groupedfor combining with the heavy check. Theinitial interval for this is 6,000FC and1,125 days. Repeat intervals thereafterare 4,000FC a nd 750 days.”

Air France Industries has aprogramme of M checks every 850FH,and A checks every 1, 200FH (see table,

th is page) . The A checks include severa lsystem tasks that some operators mightinclude in A check multiples or basechecks. “ Our base maintenanceprogramme is based on calendar and FCintervals,” explains D efrance. “ We have aC check every 18 months, 7,800FH and960FC, whichever is reached rst (see tabl e, th is page) . These checks alternatebetween a C1 and a C2 check. Thiscompares with the earlier interval of 12months for the C1 and 24 months for theC 2 checks.

“ The lighter C1 check has mainlysystem tasks, and t he C2 check is the C1plus some additional (zonal) tasks, andhas a downtime of about ve days,”continues Defrance. “ We also have SCchecks for perform ing structural ta sks.The SC1 has an interval of 66 monthsand 4,000FC, whichever is reached rst,w hile the SC2 check has intervals of 108months and 8,000FC. The SC check hasalso been escalated from its originalinterval of 48 months.

“ It ma kes most sense for us tocombine the SC checks with a multiple ofthe C check so as to reduce downtime.This means, for exa mple, perform ing theC2 slightly early at 66 months, ratherthan a t 72,” continues Defrance. “ TheSC2 is t he heaviest m aintenance visit,because it includes a C1 or C2 check, theSC1 and SC2 structural inspections,interior refurbishment, and airworthinessdirectives (ADs) and service bulletins(SBs) w ith more signicant M H .”

United, like Delta, has divided itsoriginal A check package with an intervalof 500FH into tw o 300FH checks for thepurposes of Etops. This is an escalat ionfrom a n earlier interval of 250FH . It ha s24 A check segments, w ith the A24 checkhaving an interval of 7,200FH. The basemaint enance programme is a sequence offour checks, each o f w hich includes

AIRCRAFTCOMMERCE ISSUE NO. 60 • OCTOBER/N OVEMBER2008


777 OPERATOR’S HANGAR CHECKS & INTERVALS

Airline Air France Delta Airlines/ Egyptair El Al United VEMoperator Tech Ops Airlines

Lower check ‘M’check850FH

A check 1,200FH 250FH 500FH 600FH 300FH 500FH50FC X 24 = 7,200FH X 12= 6,000FH

25 days

C check 7,800FH 7,500FH 7,500FH 7,500FH 18 months 10,000FH960FC 1,250FC 24 months 4,000FC

18 months 500 days 750 days 750 days

Heavy/structural 4,000FC 36,000FHcheck 66 months 3,000 days

8,000FC108 months



system, structural and zonal tasks. Thecurrent interval is 18 mont hs. This is anescalation from the original interval of 12months.

Line & A check inputsPre-ight and transit checks use small

amounts of labour a nd materials. Da dicsays that d uring a usual turnaround the777 uses up to 2.5MH for these checks.Even though some of this labo ur can beprovided b y ightcrew, a conservative

estimate of maintenance costs assumesthat all labo ur is provided by mechanics.A generic labour rate of $70 per MHequals a la bour cost of $175.

The materials and consumables usedduring t hese checks include oil, shockab sorber cleaner, lightbulbs, and anyitems related to non-routine occurrences.A budget of $50 should be allow ed forthese checks.

A daily check will use a littlead ditional labo ur because of the largerw orkscope, and D adic estimates that 4-5MH will be needed. This equals up to$350. One mechanic is usually sufcientto complete the job. The actual labouramount will depend on any ndings andnon-routine work tha t a rise from theroutine ta sks. There are also it ems such a sreating tyres and changing lightbulbs. Abudget of $200 should be allow ed formaterials and consumab les.

A weekly check has a larger scopethan the daily check, but is often used toclear the smaller accumulated deferreddefects that have arisen since the lastw eekly check. Da dic suggests that abudget of 6-8M H be used fo r labo ur,equal to $420-560, and up to anad ditional $500 should be allow ed formaterials and consumab les.

A check inputs vary by operator as aconsequence of differing maintenanceprogrammes and styles of operation. Abudget of 500MH and $25,000 formaterials can be used to reect inputs fora generic maintenance programme. Thisis equa l to a tota l cost of $60,000.

Aircraft on annual medium-hauloperations of 3,000FH and 1,000FC w illrequire 1,000 pre-ight and transitchecks, and 355 daily and 50 weeklychecks per year. The total annual cost forthese checks will be $470,000, so reservesfor these will be $147 per FH (see rst tabl e, page 23) .

While the generic A check interval is

500FH , the a ctual interval b etween Achecks is likely t o b e 350-450FH, w hichmeans that the aircraft w ill also haveseven to nine A checks. Reserves for thesew ill be $135-170 per FH (see rst tabl e,page 23) .

Aircraft o n long-haul operations at4,750FH a nd 650FC w ill require about650 pre-ight and transit checks, and 355daily and 50 weekly checks each year.The total annual cost for these will be$390,000, so t he reserve w ill be $82 perFH. Reserves for A checks will b e similarto tho se for aircraft o n medium-hauloperations (see second t abl e, page 23 ) .

Base check contentsThe content of the ba se checks will be

more than just routine task cardinspections and the non-routinerectications that arise as a result. Thedowntime, tooling and gantry in thehanga r provided by base checks meanthat there is scope for several otherelements to be added.

The rst of t hese usually includesclearing all accumulated technical defectsthat are recorded in the aircraft’stechnical log. Other items are interiorcleaning and varying levels of interiorrefurbishment, depending on which checkis being performed. Mo dica tions andupgrades are also usually included, a s areADs and SBs. Routine inspections canoften reveal faults w ith system rotables,and some hard-time components thathave to be removed. The aircraft’sdow ntime will also be exploited at somestage so that the aircraft ca n be strippedand repainted.

As operators are free to plan theirow n ma intenance programmes, these canvary considerably. A generic programme

of a b ase check every 18 month s is usedhere to illustrate the inputs for the basemaintenance cycle up to the rst heavycheck, which will include a large numberof structural tasks, removal andinstallation of a la rge number of rotab lecomponents, and interior refurbishment.The heavy check is the C6 check, a nd t heC3 check is a medium-sized check. TheC 6 check ha s the 3,000-da y/100-monthtasks, and the C3 check the 1,500-da y/50-month ta sks.

The actual interval achieved betweenchecks is likely to be 15-16 months.Medium-haul aircraft will achieve 3,900-4,000FH between checks, and long-haulaircraft 5,900-6,300FH between checks.The C6 check will be completed at about90 months, equa l to seven and a ha lfyears, and equal to 22,500-23,500FH fo rmedium-haul a ircraft, a nd 35,000FH forlong-haul a ircraft.

Routine inspectionsThe routine inspections in the ba se

checks will be a combination of system,structural a nd zona l tasks. The ability ofoperators to plan their ow n maintenanceprogrammes and checks means that thesetasks are now dealt w ith more ef cientlythan on previous generation aircraft.

Ro utine inspections use 800-900MHfor the lighter C1, C 2, C4 a nd C 5 checks.These MH include removing andinstalling a sma ll number of rota blecomponents, as well as a little interiorwork.

Further MH are required to cleardefects that have arisen during operationand for non-routine rectications tha tarise as a result of the routine task cards.With the clearing of defects included, thenon-routine ratio w ill be more than



The 777’s base check MH inputs are low relativeto older types like the 747. Although the number of routine tasks will increase as the aircraft ages,MH will still be relatively low.





100%. The MH used fo r the C1, C 2, C4and C5 checks w ill be 1,000-1,400.

The C3 check will use 2,150MH and,like lighter C checks, w ill include remova land installation of rotable componentsand some lighter interior w ork.

The C6 check is the heavymaintenance visit and will use 3,000MH.Another 2,000MH could be used toremove and install rotable components. Amajor interior refurbishment will beincluded in this check, but the inputs forthis are treated separately.

Engineering ordersEngineering or ders (EOs) cover all

modi cations, upgrades, SBs and ADs.The 777 has so f ar been relatively freefrom ma jor ADs or SBs. A few ha vearisen since the aircra ft entered service,however.

One example of an SB included inba se checks is AD 2007-11-23, w hichincorpora tes SB 777-27A0071 and relatesto trailing edge aps, the ap support pin,ball set and bushing replacement.

Another example is SB 777-27-0072,w hich relates to ight controls that affectthe aileron and a peron control, andrequires a wire routeing revision.

O ne SB requires the replacement ofthe passenger door seal, while anothermodies or replaces the ram air door.

An example of an AD that is includedin the 777’s base checks is AD 2007-17-12, which is the horizontal stabiliser trimactuator b allscrew lubrication andinspection.

AD 2007-15-05 is a functiona l checkon t he elevator surface freeplay.

These ADs and SBs do no t requirelarge inputs of MH , but they do a ffect theaircraft because they have a relatively

high frequency of inspection.Major ADs affecting the 777 involve

the inspection and repair of the station246 oorbeam, and the replacement ofthe wing torq ue tube and the gimbalsupport. These ADs and AD 2007-11-23are larg e enough to req uire a special visitseparate from a base maintenance visit,or to be included in a large check.Estimates by United Airlines are that itcan take 3,500-7,000MH to complete.

An allowance of 500MH for theinput of ADs and SBs w ill be made forlighter C1, C 2, C4 a nd C 5 checks, w hile800MH should be budgeted fo r the C3,and a large input of 4,000MH should beused for the C6 check.

Rotable componentsBase checks w ill involve the remova l

of some hard-timed components. In thecase of closed-loop co mponents theremoved rotables are tested and repairedand then reinstalled on the same aircraft.Some components are replaced with new items. In the case of open-loopcomponents the removed items cannot berepaired in the time allowed by thecheck’s dow ntime, an d serviceable itemsare installed on t he aircraft.

Mo st of the rota ble components onthe 777 are maintained on an o n-condition basis. There are 2,300 rotablecomponents installed on the 777,although the number varies depending onthe variant and exact conguration. Ofthese, about 1,700 are maintained on a non-condition basis, and the remaining600 are maintained on a hard-time basis.Hard-time components include safety-related items, such a s emergency escapeslides, oxygen bottles, life rafts andbatteries.

The remaining components that aremaintained on a n on-condition ba sis areremoved during line checks in the eventof malfunction or failure. They are thenreplaced during t hese line checks wit hserviceable units from an inventory ofcomponents. System checks during A andbase checks may reveal com ponentmalfunction or failure, however. In thiscase replacement rotable items will berequired.

Interior workThe items that have to be refurbished

at varying intervals are seat covers,carpets, sidewall and ceiling panels,overhead bins, pa ssenger service units(PSUs), ga lleys and toilets. The intervalsfor r efurbishing some of these items relatemore to a ppearance and marketingconsiderations tha n airw orthiness.

United uses a cabin maintenancemodule (CMM) to refurbish seat coversand ca rpets at intervals of 400FH ormore. Delta inspects and cleans seatcovers once every 10 da ys, but replacesthem every tw o to four years in mostcases. Similar intervals apply to carpetreplacement.

Sidewall and ceiling panels havesimilar refurbishment intervals tooverhead bins and PSUs. Air France, forexample, refurbishes these items at everySC check, w hich has an interval of 66months. Similarly, Egyptair refurbishesthese items at every fourt h C check,w hich takes place every six to sevenyears. VEM refurbishes these items ateven longer intervals of up to 10 y ears,while Delta does this at every sixth Ccheck, which is every eight o r nine years.

Most operators refurbish galleys andtoilets at similar intervals to panels,overhead bins and PSUs, with a heavycheck afford ing the opportunity anddowntime for the size of the workscope.

In the ana lysis used here, the majorinterior refurbishment is made at the C6check. This includes the items describedabove, and consumes 5,500MH for anaircraft operated on medium-hauloperations after seven to eight years, but6,500MH for an a ircraft that hasaccumulated a larger number of FH o vera similar period. The cost of materials forthis element of the base check would be$200,000-250,000.

Stripping and painting wa straditionally performed before and a fterthe D check, which was 5-6 years in the

Heavy component maintenance costs account for 10-12% of total maintenance costs. About half of heavy component costs are related to brakerepairs.



case of most aircraft types. This is treatedon a n on-condition basis by mostoperators, a nd intervals have beenextended to six to eight years in mostcases.

Stripping and repainting will use2,500-3,000M H and $20,000 for paintand other materials. Using a standardlabour ra te of $50 per MH , the cost forstripping and repainting is $160,000-180,000.

Base check reservesThe tota l number of MH required for

routine and non-routine rectications,removal and installation of rotablecomponents, incorporat ion of ADs a ndSBs, and clearing of defects and interiorw ork w ill be 2,400-2,800M H for the C1,C2, C 4 and C 5 checks.

The corresponding cost of materialsand consumables for each of these checksw ill be $150,000-175,000.

The total will be 5,500-6,000MH forthe intermediate C3 checks, and materialsand consumables will cost $250,000.

Inputs for the heavy C6 check will be17,000-18,000MH and $700,000-800,000 for materials, consumables andinterior refurbishment parts.

Tota l inputs over th e six checks willbe 33,000-35,000MH and $1.6-1.7million in materials, consumables andparts. Using a standard labour rate of$50 per M H , and including a strip andrepaint, the tota l cost for the basemaintenance will be $3.4-3.6 million.

When amortised over a t ota l intervalof 23,000FH , reserves for m edium-haulaircraft are $148 per FH. The interval of35,000FH for long-haul aircraft results ina low er reserve of $97-103 per FH (see second tabl e, page 23) .

Heavy componentsHeavy components comprise four

main categories: the landing gear, wheelsand brakes, thrust reversers, and theAPU.

The 777’s land ing gears co mprise twomain legs, each w ith six wheels, a nd anose leg with two wheels. The 12 wheelson the main landing gear ha ve carbonbrakes.

Wheels ar e removed w hen tyre treads

ar e wor n. Tyres are removed forremoulding, which also gives theopportunity to inspect the wheel rims.The rate at w hich tyre treads w eardepends on the harshness of brakingaction during landing, and the weight ofthe aircraft. R emoval intervals vary, butaverages can be established. Nose wheelshave shorter intervals, a nd Elkha f saysthat the average remould intervals fornose wheel tyres are about 250FC.

Main wheels have longer intervals.Elkha f records an average of 360FC.Sifnaios says that main w heel tyres can

last up to one year fo r an operation w itha long average cycle time. In Delta’s casethis is 330-350FC.

Tyres can b e remoulded severa l timesbefore being replaced. The number ofremoulds depends on airline policy andtyre manufa cturer. “ We have used radia lMichelin tyres, and remoulded these threetimes before replacing them,” says Koch.

Elkhaf says that at Egyptair nosew heel tyres ar e usually remoulded tw ice,w hile ma in wh eel tyres are remouldedthree or four times before being replaced.United remoulds tyres up to six times,how ever.

Koch puts the cost of remoulding atab out $670 for a nose wheel tyre, and$1,050 for a mainw heel tyre. New tyrescost abo ut $1,050 for a nose wheel and$1,550 for a mainw heel.

The overall reserve for remouldingand replacing the complete shipset oftyres over their useful life is ab out $45per FC (see tabl e, thi s page) .

The removal of tyres for w orn treadsprovides the opportunit y for w heelinspections. This is an o n-conditio nmaintenance process, so it can occur atdifferent intervals to tyre remoulds. Aninspection is only visual, so it does notinvolve any disassembly but it will revealw hether a repair or overha ul is needed.An overhaul is more detailed than arepair. “ The cost of a no se wheelinspection is about $110, and rises to$1,650 for a repair and to $2,000 for a noverhaul. In the case of a main w heel,repairs cost a bout $2,500 and o verhauls$2,900,” says Koch. “ Repairs occurab out every fourth removal, andoverhauls abo ut every f th removal.”

The reserve for w heel repairs a ndoverhauls is about $26 per FC (see table,th is page) .

The 777 has carbon brakes, w hich arelighter and have longer removal intervalsthan steel units. Ma intenance on bra ke

AIRCRAFTCOMMERCE ISSUENO. 60 • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER2008


777-200/-300 HEAVY COMPONENT MAINTENANCE COSTS

Operation Medium-haul Long-haul

FH:FC 3.0 7.5

FH per year 3,000 4,750FC per year 1,000 650FH:FC 3.0 7.5

Number of main & nose wheels 12 + 2 12 + 2main/nose tyre retread interval-FC 360/250 360/250Tyre retread cost-$ 1,050/670 1,050/670Number of retreads 3/2 3/2New main & nose tyres-$ 1,550/1,050 1,550/1,050

$/FC retread & replace tyres 45 45

Main/nose wheel repair interval-FC 1,440/1,000 1,440/1,000Main & nose wheel inspection cost-$ 2,650/1,800 2,650/1,800

$/FC wheel inspection 26 26

Number of brakes 12 12Brake repair interval-FC 1,800 1,800Brake repair cost-$ 60,000 60,000

$/FC brake repair cost 400 400

Landing gear interval-FC 10,000 6,500Landing gear exchange & repair fee-$ 1,250,000 1,250,000

$/FC landing gear overhaul 125 192

Thrust reverser repair interval-FC 12,000 6,000Exchange & repair fee-$/unit 400,000 400,000

$/FC thrust reverser overhaul 67 133

APU hours shop visit interval 7,500-8,500 7,500-8,500

APU hours per aircraft FC 3,400-5,500 3,400-5,500APU shop visit cost-$ 400,000-500,000 400,000-500,000

$/FC APU shop visit 75-156 75-156

Total-$/FC 738-819 872-953Total-$/FH 246-273 116-127



units is on an on-condition ba sis, a nddepends on the wear and thickness ofbrake discs. Brake discs are checked on aregular basis during daily checks. Liketyre tread s, the wear of b rake discs willdepend o n the harshness of la nding andthe aircraft w eight at la nding. Intervalsbetween brake overhauls vary fro moperator to operator: United has an

average interval of 1,500FC; Egyptair a ninterval of 1,700-1,800FC; a nd VEM aninterval o f 2,400FC.

The cost of a shop visit for a brakeunit is $55,000-65,000. Taking a naverage interval of 1,800FC for a shopvisit, a reserve of $400 per FC accountsfor a ll 12 main w heel brake units (see tabl e, page 20) .

Landing gear o verhaul intervals arecalendar-time- and FC-based. Actualintervals vary b etween operato rs. “ Theinitial maintenance programme intervalw as 10 years or 16,000FC, w hichever

w as reached rst,” explains Elkhaf .“ Subsequent intervals could then beestablished depending on inspectionresults at the rst shop visit.”

Koch gives the interval as 10 years or18,000FC, whichever is reached rst.

Only a few a irlines have their ow nshops, so most la nding gear overhauls aredealt w ith on an exchange basis.Operators pay a fee for the overhaul andshop visit, and another fee for being

provided w ith a freshly overhauled gearshipset in excha nge for t he one removedfrom the aircraft. Market rates foroverhaul and exchange fees are$800,000-1,000,000 a nd $350,000-380,000. The total will therefore beamortised over the removal interval toestablish a reserve. The interval w ill be10,000FC for the medium-haul and

6,500FC fo r the long-haul a ircraftoperat ions. R eserves w ill be $115-138per FC for the medium-haul operation,and $177-212 per FC for t he long-hauloperation (see tabl e, page 20 ) .

Thrust reversers are maintained on anon-condition basis. Unlike the thrustreverser units on older generat ionaircraft, the thrust reverser units on the777 have long removal int ervals. This ismainly due to a high level of compositematerials in the structures. United, forexample, ha s removed o nly a smallnumber of the 100-plus units that it

operates at an average interval of4,400FC. Most thrust reversermaintenance occurs on-wing during basemaintenance. Air France and KLM havedevised soft removal intervals to preventmajor da mage being caused to the thrustreversers from keeping them o n-w ing fortoo long. Intervals for long-range a ircraftare 6,000FC, and 12,000-16,000FC forshort- or medium-haul aircraft.

The average shop visit cost for a

thrust reverser shipset is ab out $400,000.The reserve for t w o reversers on long-haul aircraft is therefore $135 per FC,and $65-80 per FC on the short- andmedium-haul aircraft (see tabl e, page 20 ) .

The 777’s APU is the Allied Signal331-500. APU ma intenance is performedon an on-condition basis. Averageremoval intervals a re 7,600-8,500 APU

hours. How this equa tes to aircraft FHand FC intervals depends on t heutilisation of the APU d uring aircraftoperation. This can be minimised byusing the APU fo r an a verage of only upto 90 minutes per FC, and using it mainlyfor engine start and air conditioning priorto engine start, a s well as for a few minutes while taxi-ing in after landing.G round pow er is used for the majority ofthe turnaround b etween ights.

In other cases, the rate of APU use perFC ca n be higher - up to 150 minutes perFC. The removal interval will therefore

be equal to 3,400-5,500FC.Shop visit costs a re $400,000-

500,000, meaning that APU reserves are$84-141 per FC (see tabl e, page 20 ) .

Tota l reserves for a ll heavycomponents a re $738-819 per FC fo r theaircraft on medium-haul operations, a nd$872-953 per FC for the aircraft on long-haul o perations (see tabl es, page 23 ) .These are equa l to $246-273 per FH f orthe medium-haul operation, and $116-







127 per FH for the long-haul operation(see tabl es, page 23) .

Rotable componentsThere are about 2,300 rotable

components installed on the 777,although the a ctual number w ill dependon con guration. About 600 of these aremainta ined on a hard-time basis, and theremainder on an on-condition ba sis.

Many airlines have complete orpartial inventories, and in-house repair-and-test and w arehousing fa cilities andlogistical services for managing theseparts, and ensuring that they are ava ilablew hen required during t he eet’soperation. Several specialist providersoffer turnkey rotab le support packagesfor a range of a ircraft types, includingAAR, AJ Walter, Avtrad e, Singapor eTechnologies a nd Luftha nsa Technik.

The packages that are offered include:the supply of a homebase stock of highfailure rate and no-go items that are heldat the airline’s main ba se; a ccess to a poolstock of remaining rota bles, w hich can besent to the airline by the supplier whenrequired; a nd a repair, mana gement a ndlogistics service for a ll components underthe a greement. These last tw o elementscan be paid for at a xed rate per FH.

The homebase stock for a eet of 10777s will have a value of $5-8 million.Lease rentals w ill be equal t o $20-30 perFH for long-haul aircraft, and $30-45 perFH for medium-haul operations.

The pool access, and repair andma nag ement f ees w ill be $230-260 perFH for medium-haul and $200-220 forlong-haul a ircraft. This will ta ke the totalto $260-305 per FH fo r medium-ha ulaircraft, and $220-250 per FH for long-haul aircraft (see tabl es, page 23) .

Engine maintenanceThe 777 eet can b e subdivided into

tw o ca tegories: low gross weight -200s;and high gross weigh t -200s/-200ERs, -200LRs, -300s and -300LRs.

The 777-200s are ma inly pow ered bythe PW4074/77 a nd Trent 875/77/90engines, a nd o perate medium-haul cyclesof 3. 0FH. The 777-300s are ma inlypow ered by t he PW4090/98 and Trent892, and a lso operate FC times of about3.0FH. The 777-300s are po w eredma inly b y the PW4090/98 and Trent 892,and a lso operate at a bout 3.0FH per FC.

The high gross w eight -200s and-200ERs a re mainly pow ered b y thePW4084/90, G E90/94 a nd Trent892/895, a nd o perate on long-haulmissions averaging 6.0-8.0FH per FC.

The -200LR a nd -300LR eets a repow ered by the G E90-110/-115 an doperate on missions of 8-11FH.

The use of d ifferent a irfra me-enginecombinations at different FH :FC ratiosinuences engine removal intervals andmaint enance reserves.

The PW4074/77 a t 3.0 engine ighthours (EFH) per engine ight cycle (EFC)have rst a nd second removal intervalstha t a verage 11,500EFH/3,800EFC an d8,500EFH and 2,800EFC. First a ndsecond shop visit costs are $3.2 and $4.3million respectively. The total costamortised over the rst tw o shop visitsavera ges a reserve of $375 per EFH.

M ature removal intervals are8,250EFH a nd 2,750EFC . The PW4000’slife limited part s (LLPs) have lives of20,000EFC, and can b e expected t o b ereplaced after a tota l accumulated time ofabout 17,500EFC. The list price for ashipset is $7.0 million, so this w ill resultin LLP reserves of $400 per EFC. O verall

reserves for shop visit costs and LLPs willtherefore be about $533 per EFH (see rst t able, page 23) .

The Trent 892 o n similar operatio nsw ill have rst a nd second removalintervals of 16,000EFH/5,300EFC a nd14,000EFH/4,700EFC. First a nd secondshop visit costs are $4.2 million and $5.2million respectively. The reserve for thesetwo shop visits is about $315 per EFH.

The mature interval is about13,000EFH /4,250EFC . The engine’s LLPshave lives of 15,000EFC, a nd can be

expected to be replaced after about14,000EFC. A shipset ha s a list price ofabout $6.0 million, so LLP reserves willbe a bout $430 per EFC. Tota l reservesw ill therefore be a bout $460 per EFH(see rst tab le, page 23) .

For higher gross weight -200s and -200ER s, th e G E90/94, P W4084/90 a ndTrent 892 /895 should b e consid ered.

The G E90/94B operat ing at ab out7.5EFH per EFC w ill have rst andsecond removal intervals of18,000EFH /2,250EFC and15,500EFH /2,000EFC respectively.Removal intervals are limited to4,000EFC by one of the G E90’s LLPs; theHPT interstage seal. The rst removalw orkscope is usually a performancerestora tion, and incurs a shop visit cost of$4.0 million. The second w orkscope,aft er a total time of 34,000EFH and4,200EFC, w ill be a full overhaul, andcost $5.0 million. The reserve for thesetwo shop visits will be $270 per EFH.

The majority of the G E90-90/94’sLLPs ha ve lives of 15,000-20,000EFC.M ature removal intervals will be about2,000EFC, a nd so average accumulatedtime for LLP replacement will be about10,000EFC. A full shipset ha s a list priceof about $8.1 million, so reserves will be$810 per EFC. Total reserves willtherefore be $370 per EFH (see second tab le, page 23) .

The PW4084/90 a t t he sa meEFH:EFC ratio w ill have rst and secondremoval intervals of19,000EFH /2,300EFC and16,000EFH /2,000EFC respectively. Prat t& Whitney engines generally follow asimple shop-visit pattern of alternatingperformance restorations a nd overhauls.The rst shop visit w ill incur a cost o f$3.9 million, w hile the follow ingoverhaul will cost $5.5 million. Thereserve for these tw o, a mortised over atota l time of 35,000EFH a nd 4,700EFC,

There are differences in maintenance reservesbetween different engine types, but enginemaintenance accounts for about half of totalaircraft maintenance costs.



ISSUENO. 60 • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER2008 AIRCRAFTCOMMERCE


will be $270 per EFH.The engines will have a mature

interval of abo ut 2,000EFC. LLPs in thePW4084/90 ha ve unifo rm lives of15,000EFC, and average LLP life atreplacement will be about 13,500EFC. Ashipset ha s a list price of $7.5 million, soLLP reserves will be about $560 per EFC.

Tota l reserves will b e ab out $340 perEFH (see second t abl e, thi s page) .

The Trent 892/895 a t the sa meEFH:EFC ratio w ill have rst removalintervals of 23,000-25,000EFH and3,100-3,300EFC. The rst shop visit w illincur a cost of about $4.8 million. Thesecond removals will be ab out20,000EFH and 2,500EFC, and thefollowing shop visit will be $5.5-5.8million. The reserve for t he tw o shopvisits will be amortised over a to talinterval of 42,000-45,000EFH, and willbe $230-245 per EFH.

The Trent 892 a nd 895 ha ve LLPswith lives of 15,000EFC and 10,000EFC.The list price for a shipset fo r bo th is $6.0million. LLPs w ill be replaced after a tota ltime of a bout 14,000EFC for t he Trent892, and a bout 8, 500EFC for the Trent895. LLP reserves for t he Trent 892 w illbe ab out $430 per EFC, a nd fo r the Trent895 about $700 per EFC.

Tota l reserves fo r the Trent 892 w illbe about $280 per EFH, a nd for theTrent 895 a bout $330 per EFH (see second tabl e, thi s page) .

The G E90-110/-115 po w ering the777-200LR/-300ER w ill be o perated atan a verage EFH:EFC ratio of 10:1, butthe actual ratio w ill depend on eachairline. At this EFC time, the engine isexpected to have rst removal intervals ofabo ut 24,000EFH and 2,400EFC, a ndthe rst shop visit w ill incur a cost ofabout $4.3 million. The second removalinterval is predicted to be 18,000EFHand 1,800EFC. The following overhaulw ill incur a cost of abo ut $5.3 million.The cost for these two shop visits will beamortised over a to tal time of abo ut42,000EFH and 4,200EFC, w ith areserve of $230 per EFH.

The G E90-110/-115 ha s 26 LLPs w ithlives of 15,000-20,000EFC, although afew parts are limited to shorter lives. Thelist price for a shipset is $8.1 million.Average accumulated time at replacementis 10,000EFC, resulting in a reserve of$810 per EFC.

Tota l reserves fo r t he G E90-110/-115w ill be about $310 per EFH.

SummaryThere is a difference of $300-900 per

FH between the aircraft used on medium-and long-haul operations, d epending o nthe exact reserves allowed for some of themaintenance, and the engine type used onthe aircraft.

The 777-200’s tota l costs f or m edium-haul operations are higher than theA330-300’s (see A33 0-200/-30 0 maint enance analysis & budget, Air craft Commerce, Ap ril /M ay 2008, page 20) .This is mainly due to the 777’s higher lineand A checks, heavy components, andengine maintenan ce costs. This is notsurprising, given th at the 777’s heavierdesign and larger engines gave it thecapability to be developed into a long-and ultra-long-range a ircraft.

The 777-200ER has $160-400 per FH

lower maintenance costs than the A340-200 /-300 (see A340 -300 maint enance analysis & budget, A ircraft Comm erce,June/Jul y 200 7, page 17) . This is mainlydue to the A340’s four-engine design. The777 also has lower airframe andcomponent maintenance costs. The 777particularly bene ts from low er basema intenance reserves.



DIRECT MAINTENANCE COSTS FOR 777-200/-300: MEDIUM-HAUL OPERATION

Maintenance Cycle Cycle Cost per Cost per Item cost $ interval FC-$ FH-$

Line & ramp checks 470,000 Annual 147A check 60,000 350-450FH 135-170Base checks 3.4-3.6 million 23,000FH 148

Heavy components: 738-819 246-273

LRU component support 260-305

Total airframe & component maintenance 788-1,043

Engine maintenance:2 X PW4074/77: 2 X $533 per EFH 1,0662 X Trent 875/877/890: 2 X $460 per EFH 920

Total direct maintenance costs: 1,710-2,100

Annual utilisation:

3000FH 1,000FC FH:FC ratio of 3.0:1

DIRECT MAINTENANCE COSTS FOR 777-200ER: LONG-HAULOPERATION

Maintenance Cycle Cycle Cost per Cost per Item cost $ interval FC-$ FH-$

Line & ramp checks 390,000 Annual 82A check 60,000 350-450FH 135-170Base checks 3.4-3.6 million 35,000FH 97-103

Heavy components: 872-953 116-127

LRU component support 220-250

Total airframe & component maintenance 650-732

Engine maintenance:2 X PW4084/90: 2 X $ 340 per EFH 6802 X GE90-90/-94: 2 X $ 370 per EFH 7402 X Trent 892/895: 2 X $ 280/330 per EFH 560/660

Total direct maintenance costs: 1,200-1,475

Annual utilisation: 4,750FH 650FC FH:FC ratio of 7.5:1





This survey summa rises the ma joraftermarket and technicalsupport providers for the

Boeing 777 aircraft. It isgrouped int o seven sections covering thecategories of technical support offered byeach provider.

● Engineering Management andTechnical Support (see tabl e, page 26).

● Line maintena nce and in-serviceoperational support (see tabl e, page 27).

● Base Maintenance Support (see tabl e, page 27) .

● Engine Maintenance (see tabl e, page 28).

● Spare Engine Support (see table,page 28) .

● Rotables and Logistics (see tabl e,page 30) .

● Heavy Component Maintenance(see tab le, page 30) .

Ma ny of the technical support

providers that are listed in most, if notall, of the six sections can be termed as‘one-stop-shop’ service providers for the777. This means that they provide mo stof t he technical support services tha t athird-party customer would require.

The tab les summarise the ra nge ofservices that these facilities offer.

As the tables show, the maint enance,repair and overhaul (MR O) and othertechnical support facilities are able tooffer a complete range of line and basemaint enance services, a s w ell as engineand heavy component ma intenance forthe 777.

The major ma intenance providersinclude: Ameco Beijing, Austrian Technik,Delta TechOps, El Al Tech, Evergreen

Avia tion Technolo gies Co rp. (EG AT),Hong Kong Aircraft EngineeringCompa ny (HAECO ), Japan AirlinesInternatio nal (JAL), Luft hansa TechnikAG (LH T), Ma laysian Airlines, SingaporeAirlines Engineering C ompa ny(SIAECO), Thai Airways International(Thai), Triad Int ernationa l Ma intenance

Corporation (TIMCO), United Services,Gameco and VEM Maintenance andEngineering (VEM ).

Due to the na ncial, personnel andtime and tooling costs of certain specialistjobs, none of the facilities are able tooffer every single listed ca pability, butsome come close.

With th e development o f t he 777-200LR a nd Freighter, the number of 777sis growing. By 2015, there are expectedto be over 1,080 777s in operation, so themaintenance market will need to grow bynearly 50%. This is especially true as

many 777s will need more in-depth heavymaintenance over the coming years as themaintenance requirements of olderaircraft increase.

Many of these additional deliveriesare to existing operators, so maintenancearrangements may therefore already be inplace. There are also smaller operato rsw hich need MR Os to offer capability. Inaddition, there are also 777s on orderwith new customers such asTurkmenista n Airlines and Arik Air thatwill need maintenance programmes andtechnical support in the future. Suchoperators with small eets will needextensive third-party support, andproviders and fa cilities will beincreasingly in demand.

Engine & APU marketWhen looking at the maintenance of

the engines of t he 777, there are only afew providers that offer various levels ofengineering and engine shop support o nall three engines. These include EvergreenAviation Technologies Corp (EDAT);HAECO , including H ong Kong AeroEngine Services Limited (HAESL); andSIAECO , including Singapo re AeroEngine Services Limit ed (SAESL). Thereare additiona l facilities that can offermaintenance for tw o o f the three enginetypes.

777-200/-300technical support

providersThere are over 700 777 aircraft in operation with thePW4000-112, GE90 or Trent 800 engine. A globalsurvey of six major levels of support identifies themajor service providers.

SIAECO provides one of the most comprehensivelevels of technical & maintenance support for the777 available in the world. This is party explained by SIA having the largest global feet,with 77 aircraft.



AIRCRAFTCOMMERCE ISSUE NO. 60 • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER2008


The ACAS database, produced byFlight G loba l, assesses the contra cts ofvarious maintenance facilities andairlines, from which the market share canbe worked out. This data is for the periodup to t he summer 2008.

Engine maintenance contracts that areperformed in-house represent 17% of themarket. This gure does not, however,include the in-house wo rk do ne byairlines that also offer third-party enginew ork. These are carriers such as AirFrance, United, KLM and JAL.Therefore, the g ure will be much higherand closer to 30-35%. Unknowncontracts equate to just over 10%. Of theengine manufacturers, Rolls Royce (RR)has the highest percentage of contracts,with 27% being issued to RR and itsjoint ventures (JVs).

G E Engine Services and its facilitiesaround t he world have taken nearly 20%of t he market, leaving Pratt and Whitney(PW) w ith less than 5%. Airlines thatoperate PW4000-pow ered 777s are morelikely to mainta in engines in-house. Whatis clear, though, is that RR keeps a tightcontrol of engine maintenance, w ith onlyits ow n joint ventures and Trent 800operators doing work on the engines.

Over 50% of 777 APUs areoverhauled by the original equipmentmanufacturer (OEM), H oneywell. Thesecond place for market sha re is in-houseengineering with 17%. Other airlineengineering departments account fornearly 11% and unknown contra cts orthose up for tender amount to 7%.

Base maintenance marketThe market shares for C checks and

heavy ma intenance visits are similar. Inboth cases the highest percentag e of

contracts (nearly 46% and 36%respectively) goes to in-house airlineengineering d epartments. As a lsomentioned fo r the engines, this do es notinclude those in-house airline engineeringfacilities that also offer third-partycapa bility. Such fa cilities are Air FranceIndustries and SIAECO , w hich havenearly 13% and 12% respectively of th eC check and heavy maintenance market.

British Airw ays M aintenance Cardiff(BAMC) is one exception. Due to thelarge BA eet of 42 aircraft, BAMC hasnearly 9% of the global ma rket, and soends up having its own entry in the ACASmarket share data. BA does not off erthird-party maintenance at Ca rdiff.Therefore, in-house engineering’s marketshare for C checks stands at over 51%and for heavy checks it is nearly 42%.

Engineering companies that areindependent of an airline only seem to getless than 2.5% of the market each for theC checks. But they do better on the heavychecks, w ith Ameco and ST Aviatio nServices Pte Ltd (SASC O ) getting nearly10% and 6% respectively.

Asia PacificThe majority of 777s are operated by

airlines in the Asia Pacic area, whichaccounts for over 40% of the global eet.In add ition, 128 new 777s w ill bedelivered over the coming years to theregion. This represents 35% offort hcoming d eliveries.

This is then echoed in the ra nge ofservice providers in the same ar ea. Someof t he major pro viders include: AmecoBeijing, H AECO , SIAECO , TAECO andGameco.

The technical providers in the AsiaPacic a rea are mostly attached in some

w ay to an a irline, in much the same wa yas the rest of the wo rld. But they alsostand independently in their branding andposition in the market place.

This is true of G ameco and H AECOwhich are historically the maintainers ofChina Southern and C athay Pacicaircra ft respectively. Ameco B eijing, onthe other hand, is a joint venture betweenLHT and Air China. LHT’s market shareshould o nly grow over the coming years.

LHT also has a joint venture withPhilippine Airlines, ca lled Luftha nsaTechnik Philippines, w hich tra ditiona llyoverhauls the aircraft from PhilippineAirlines. This airline is due to takedelivery o f six 777-300ERs by 2011,w hich are likely to be maintained byLuft hansa Technik Philippines. SIAECOis also developing w idebody ma intenancefacilities in t he Philippines.

Over 20% of the global C checkcontracts, according to ACAS, go tofacilities in the Asia P aci c area. Thisgure excludes many of the airlines, suchas those from Japan and China, that havein-house engineering and maint enancedepartments. SIAECO alone accounts fornearly 12% of the C check and heavycheck contract market share.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has thelargest 777 eet, with 77 aircraft. As theworld’s largest provider of technical andmaintenance support for the 777 itsmaint enance division, SIA EngineeringCo mpany (SIAECO ), has acomprehensive technical support a ndmaintenance capability at all levels,w hich it is able to of fer to otheroperators.

SIAECO is capable of handling four777 base checks at any one time withinits hangars. It also has tarma c space forline and light maintenance.

777-200/-300 ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT& TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Outsourced Maint DOC & Maint Reliability AD/SB Check Config Totalengineering records manuals prog stats orders planning & IPC tech

service service manage manage manage manage support

Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies Y Y Y Y Y Y YAir France Industries / KLM Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YAlitalia Servizi Y Y Y Y

Engineering & MaintenanceAmeco Bejing Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YAveos (Air Canada Technical Services) YDelta TechOps Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YEl Al Tech engine Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YEmirates Y Y Y Y YEvergreen Aviation Technologies Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YGAMECO Y Y Y YHAECO incl. HAESL & SAESL Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YLufthansa TechnikAG Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YMalaysia Airlines Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YSIA Engineering Company Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YThai Airways International Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YTIMCO (Greenbro) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YUnited Services Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

VEM Maintenance & Engineering Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y



In addition, SIAECO is adding a sixthhangar to further improve its marketpresence.

When looking at the market share forheavy checks in the general Asia Pa cicarea, the share of glob al business is wellover 35%. This aga in excludes many ofthose checks that a re completed in-house,although the gures reaf rm that heavychecks are more likely t o b e outsourcedthan C checks.

Engine shops in the Asia Pa cicregion include: G E Engine Services (Japanand Malaysia), HAECO (throughassociates HAESL), Eagle Services Asia(ESA), a nd SAESL; and t he majorairlines’ engine shops such as JAL a ndTHAI.

ESA is a JV betw een Pra tt & Whitneyand SIAECO, while SAESL is a JVbetween Rolls-Royce and SIAECO.SIAECO is able to offer technical supportand shop visit maintenance for thePW4000, GE90 a nd Trent 800 throughESA and SAESL, w ith ESA providingsupport for t he PW4000 and G E90, andSAESL for the Trent 800.

Besides the in-house market share o f10% of global engine overhaul contracts,the next biggest provid er is Singapor e-ba sed SAESL. SAESL has t aken 14% ofthe contracts available globally, and is ajoint venture between HAESL, RR andSIA. H AESL itself is a joint venturebetween HAECO a nd RR , and is based inHo ng Kong. In addition, H AECO alsoow ns TAECO in Xiamen, China, and hastaken over a G E facility at the sameChinese location. This means that,


ISSUE NO. 60 • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER2008 AIRCRAFTCOMMERCE

777-200/-300 LINE & LIGHT MAINTENANCE SUPPORT

Maint AOG Line A checks Engine Engine Landing APU Thrustoperations support checks QEC changes gear changes reverser

control changes changes changes

Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies Y Y YAeroMexico- Aeroviasde MexicoSA de CV Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YAir France Industries / KLM Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YAlitalia Servizi Engineering & Maintenance Y Y YAmeco Beijing Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YAustrian Technik Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YDelta TechOps Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YEl Al Tech Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YEmirates Engineering Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YEurope Aviation Y YEvergreen Aviation Technologies Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YHAECO - incl. HAESL & SAESL Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Japan Airlines International Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YLufthansa Technik AG Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YMalaysia Airlines Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YMonarch Aircraft Engineering Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YSIA Engineering Company Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YST Aviation Services Pte. Ltd. (SASCO) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YST Mobile Aerospace (MAE) Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YThai Airways International Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YUnited Services Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YVEM Maintenance & Engineering Y Y Y Y Y Y YVictorville Aerospace LLC Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

777-200/-300 BASE MAINTENANCE SUPPORT

C IL &D Composites Strip/ Interior

checks checks paint refurb

Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies Y Y Y

AeroMexico Partial Y

Air France Industries / KLM Y Y Y Y Y

Alitalia Servizi Y Y Y

Engineering & Maintenance

Ameco Bejing Y Y Y Y Y

American Airlines Y Y Y Y

Austrian Technik Y Y Y

Aveos (Air Canada Technical Services) Y Y Y

Delta TechOps Y Y Y Y

Egyptair Maintenance & Engineering Y Y Y

El Al Tech Y Y Y YEmirates Y Y Y

Evergreen Aviation Technologies Y Y Y Y Y

Lufthansa Technik AG HAECO HAECO Y Y Y

Malaysia Airlines Y Y Y Y Y

Marshall Aerospace Y Y Y Y Y

SIA Engineering Company Y Y Y Y Y

ST Aviation Services Pte. Ltd. (SASCO) Y Y Y Y Y

ST Mobile Aerospace (MAE) Y Y Y Y Y

TAECO Y Y Y Y Y

Thai Airways International Y Y Y Y Y

TIMCO (Greenbro) Y Y

United Services Y Y

VEM Maintenance & Engineering Y Y Y Y Y

Victorville Aerospace LLC Y Y Y Y Y



looking at ACAS’s data , H AECO and itsassociated companies in the Asia Pacichave nearly 18% (worth over 250engines) of the global market for engineoverhaul, and show every sign ofgrowing. Through its various companies,H AECO is able to provide most technicalservices on all three engines of the 777,apa rt fr om leasing a spects. This has beenfurther developed by forming a JV w ith

two of the OEMs, and beneting fromthe ba ck-up this brings.

Ot her than the base maintenance andengine overhaul, many of the facilitiesalso offer day-to-day line maintenanceand technical support, the main one beingSIAECO. It has its main engineering baseat Singapore, but also has 40 linemaintenance stations around the AsiaPacic region.

North & South AmericaThe second largest geogra phical ar ea

for 777 operators is North America,w hich accounts for 20% of the globaleet. South America ha s the smallestshare with less than 1%, but itsmaintenance requirements are wellcatered f or. The No rth American eet sizeis not echoed in the facilities available.Many heavy checks are completed inEurope or Asia Pacic.

There are few large t echnical serviceproviders in America, but there are manysmaller companies that offer morespecialist, loca l services. These includeG oodrich, Southern Ca lifornianAerospace, TIMCO and VictorvilleAerospace LLC, which offer some aspectsof component, line maintenance andtechnical support.

Tw o ma jor providers are theengineering and maintenancedepartm ents of D elta TechOps (Delta AirLines) and United Services (UnitedAirlines). Betw een them t hey ha ve nearly8% of the global C check market.Neither perform heavy checks. InsteadUnited sends its aircraft to Ameco forheavy checks, and Delta sends its aircraftto Air France Industries. HAECO has acontract for Continental’s 777-200ERaircraft.

Other major American providers areAveos (formally Air Ca nad a TechnicalServices) and ST Mobile (MAE).Additionally, VEM Ma intenance andEngineering in B razil o ffers most serviceson the 777 airframe and some G E90engine shop capab ility. Also in SouthAmerica is AeroM exico, w hich offers 777

AIRCRAFTCOMMERCE ISSUE NO. 60 • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER2008


777-200/-300 SPARE ENGINE SUPPORT- GE90, PW4000-112 & TRENT 800

On-wing AOG Short- Med/long- Engine

support services term term pooling

leases leases

Air France Industries / KLM Y Y Y

Delta TechOps Y Y Y YEl Al Tech Y Y Y Y Y

Evergreen Aviation Technologies Y Y Y Y Y

GAMECO Y Y Y Y

GE Engine Services Y Y Y Y Y

HAECO -incl. HAESL & SAESL Y Y

Japan Airlines International Y Y Y Y

Kuwait Airways Corporation Y

Lufthansa Techniks AG Y Y Y Y Y

Pratt & Whitney Y Y Y Y Y

Rolls Royce Y Y Y Y Y

SIA Engineering Company Y Y

Southern California Aviation Y Y Y Y Y

Spirit Aerosystems(Europe) Y Y

Thai Airways International Y Y

United Services Y Y Y Y

777-200/-300 ENGINE MAINTENANCE - GE90, PW4000-112 & TRENT 800

GE90 PW4000-112 Trent 800 Engine Engine On-wing Engine Partshealth maint engine shop repair

monitor manage maint visits schemes

AeroMexico Y Y Y YAir France Industries/KLM Y Y Y Y Y YAlitalia Servizi Y Y YEngineering & MaintenanceAustrian Technik Y Y Y Y Y YDelta TechOps Y Y Y Y YEmirates Y Y Y Y YEvergreen Aviation Technologies Y Y Y Y Y Y GE90 GE90GAMECO Y Y Y Y Y YGE Engine Services Y Y Y Y Y YHAECO - incl. HAESL & SAESL Y Y Y Y Y Y GE&Trent GE & Trent Japan Airlines International Y Y Y Y Y Y YLufthansa Technik AG Y Y Y Y Y YMalaysian Airlines Y Y Y YPratt & Whitney Y Y Y Y Y YRolls Royce Y Y Y Y Y YSIA Engineering Company Y Y Y Y Y Y Y YTAESL Y Y Y Y YThai Airways International Y Y Y Y Y YUnited Services Y Y Y Y Y YVEM Maintenance & Engineering Y Y Y Y



line maintenance and technical support,along w ith some GE90 capabilities.

As fa r as engine overhaul provid ers goin America, Unit ed Services and PW’sCheshire Engine Centre deal with thePW4000-112. The Trent 800 ismaint ained by Texas Aero Engine ServiceLLC (TAESL), RR ’s joint venture w ithAmerican Airlines. In addition, on-wingengine maintenance and management are

ff d b D lt T h O f th G E90

and Trent 800.

EuropeThe geographical area with the third

largest eet is Europe, which has thesecond largest maintenance market forthe 777. Europe has 17% of the globaleet, but 20% for both the C check andheavy check market. This includes BA’s

k t h b t l d l i

house data (as mentioned previously).The major third-party players in the

European maintenance market are AirFrance Industries/KLM , Luftha nsaTechnik and Austrian Technik. At thetime of w riting, it is hard to tell ifAlitalia’s engineering compa nies willremain with the major Europeanproviders. Within Europe, there are large

maintenance companies which have asmall amount of capability on the 777,but have not yet gained full capability,such as SR Technics at its Z urich fa cility.Europe Aviatio n in Fran ce has developedline maintenance capabilities on the 777,w hich will be available from the end of2008.

The smaller, more specialistcompanies within Europe include EADSRevima, w hich offers heavy componentmaintenance, and Shannon Aerospace.Europe also has many of the large rotableinventory and logistics companies, such

as AJ Walter, CASCO and Avtrade.The engines for the 777 are w ell

supported in Europe, according to ACASda ta. G E Engine Services’ Europeanfacilities handle nearly 16% of the globalmarket share of all 777 engines. Rolls-Royce Aero R epair a nd O verhaul dealsw ith 4% of the global market, andLuft ha nsa Technik completes all levels ofmaint enance on t he PW4000-112.

Middle East and AfricaThe contribution of the Middle East

and Africa is nearly 16% of the globaleet, but most (nearly 14%) comes fromthe M iddle Eastern a irlines. There aremany maintenance facilities in thelocation, but this is not reected in thenumber of contracts completed,according to ACAS. The main third-partyprovider is ADAT in Abu Dha bi, a ndother fa cilities are those of the region’s777 operators, such as Egyptair andEmirates.

ADAT, the former G AMC O, has putmajor investment into its facility to assistits MRO contract w ith Etihad. It hasbuilt a d edicated ha nger for Etihad’s777s, A340s and A320s, w hich w asopened in the summer of 2008.Investment has paid off over the past few years, and more is due to be made overthe next four years.

G loba l market share for the 777’sheavy maintenance is low at a bout 1.5%,but that could grow w ith the investmentput int o AD AT. The gure is the same fo rC Check maintenance, but aga in thismust grow a s 110 new aircraft a re due tobe delivered to the area over the comingfew years. Of these, nearly 100 a re forMiddle Eastern carriers.


777-200/-300 ROTABLES & LOGISTICS

Rotable Rotable Repair AOG PBH

inventory inventory & doc support rotables

leasing pooling manage supportAAR Corp. Y Y Y Y Y

Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies Y Y Y Y Y

Air France / KLM Y Y Y Y Y

Alitalia Servizi Y Y Y

Engineering and Maintenance

Ameco Bejing Y Y Y Y

Aveos (Air Canada Technical Services) Y Y Y Y Y

Delta TechOps Y Y Y Y Y

Emirates Y Y Y YEvergreen Aviation Technologies Y Y Y Y YGE Engine Services Y Y Y Y YGoodrich Y Y Y Y YLufthansa Technik AG Y Y Y Y YSIA Engineering Company Y Y Y Y YThai Airways International Y Y Y Y

United Services Y Y Y Y YVEM Maintenance & Engineering Y Y Y Y

777-200/-300 HEAVY COMPONENTMAINTENANCE

Wheels APU Thrust Landing Landing

tyres & test & reversers gear gear

brakes repair exchanges

AAR Corp. Y Y

Air France Industries/ KLM Y Y Y Y Y

American Airlines Y Y Y

Boeing Maintenance Services Y Y YAveos (Air Canada TechnicalServices) Y Y Y

Delta TechOps Y

Eads Revima / Revima APU Y Y Y

El Al Tech Y Partly Partly

Emirates Y Y light Y

Evergreen Aviation Technologies Y Y

Goodrich Y Y Y

HAECO - incl. HAESL & SAESL Y Y Y Y

Hawker Pacific Y Y

Lufthansa Technik AG Y Y Y Y

Messier Services Asia & France Y Y Y

SIA Engineering Company Y Y Y Y Y

Thai Airways International Y Y Y Y Y

United Services Y Y Y Y Y

VEM Maintenance & Engineering Y Y Y Y

Victorville Aerospace LLC Y Y Y Y



owners_operatorsguide_777.pdf

Documents