Air France-KLM and Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) have confirmed reports that Air France (AF, Paris CDG) and the manufacturer have entered into exclusive negotiations to set up a joint venture to provide, on a worldwide basis, A350 component maintenance services.
The envisaged collaboration will take the form of a 50/50 partnership between Air France and Airbus and involve the transfer of components belonging to both partners into the joint venture’s “worldwide pool”, the two groups said in a joint statement on September 4. It would also conduct repairs and supply chain management.
Specifically, the partnership is between Airbus and the airline group’s MRO provider Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance. It “would entail an optimised commercial offering, aimed at better meeting the growing long-term maintenance needs” of the global A350 fleet - around 550 currently in service and more than 1,000 on order. It would also help develop “innovative solutions to the benefit of customers.”
The objective is for the joint venture to be operational “by the first half of 2024” subject to compliance requirements and approval by the relevant authorities. The statement confirms an article about the planned joint venture that appeared in the newspaper Le Figaro last week citing unnamed sources.
Anne Brachet, executive vice president at Air France-KLM Engineering & Maintenance, commented that the project “aims to bring customers the best expertise of our two companies on a product as high-tech as the A350. We will be able to better respond to the needs of the market and to guarantee the satisfaction of our customers over the long term, with support solutions that are always responsive, of high quality, and at the right price.”
