Oman Air congratulated by GE Aviation for its record breaking Boeing 787 engine change in 20 hours

Oman Air, the national carrier of the Sultanate of Oman, was recently praised by GE Aviation, for its record breaking Boeing 787 engine change. The procedure was completed in just 20 hours, earning Oman Air world-wide recognition for its remarkable engineering feat.

The record breaking achievement was acknowledged at the recent Dubai Air show, where Oman Air’s EVP Engineering & Maintenance, Eng. Ali Redha Mohammed Al Lawatiya, was presented with a commendation. This recognised the outstanding capability and competency of Oman Air’s engineering team which allowed them to perform the task in such a short time frame.

The achievement was accomplished in line with Oman Air’s Engineering and Maintenance objectives, which aim to maintain, safe and efficient operation. 

Ali Redha Al Lawatiya, Executive Vice President Engineering and Maintenance, said: “I am delighted to accept this commemoration on behalf of Oman Air’s hardworking Engineering & Maintenance team. We are a dedicated unit, Our goal is to respond to engineering issues in the quickest and most efficient way possible. This recent recognition from GE Aviation is further acknowledgement of Oman Air’s strong position in the airline industry; we are fully committed to delivering the best possible service to guests and a critical part of this is to ensure the highest quality of engineering & maintenance services to our aircraft.”

Oman Air Engineering & Maintenance works around the clock to provide services to Oman Air’s own fleet and third party aircraft, with routine maintenance inspections up to and including 'A' checks, minor aircraft repairs / modifications & aircraft component replacements. 

The team has been much focussed on ensuring the maintenance schedule is as efficient as possible and extending the capabilities in-house. The outsourced heavy maintenance (C-check) for Airbus 330 are now performed every 24 months instead of 18 months, by accommodating the 18 months maintenance checks for the 10 existing A330 aircrafts in-house.

Another evident improvement on a wider scale has also been achieved on the B737 fleet, previously requiring the heavy Maintenance (C-check) approximately every 24 months. The Engineering & Maintenance team with the support of Boeing managed to escalate the heavy maintenance interval to 36 months and for the A-check maintenance from approximately 60 days interval to 120 days resulting in better utilisation of maintenance ground time and an increase in aircraft operational availability

Oman Air Engineering has also extended its technical capabilities on handling British Airways B787, Qatar airways Airbus 350 & SriLankan airlines A320 neo aircraft types. The service platform provided has also extended to include the full technical handling of customer airlines aircraft at Sohar Airport.

With the additional capabilities added to the existing operation, Oman Air Engineering is committed to maintaining the highest standards of safety and an honourable audit status which was evident with the performed audits by EASA & IOSA of the Engineering & Maintenance division.

GE Aviation is a world leading provider of commercial, military, business and general aviation jet and turboprop engines and components as well as avionics, electrical power and mechanical systems for aircraft.