KLM Cityhopper and Helvetic Airways formally concluded a new on-call maintenance collaboration on Monday 06 September. Under the new accord, the Swiss-based regional carrier can now perform technical work on aircraft of the Dutch national airline’s Embraer E-Jet fleet as and when required at its Zurich Airport base.

KLM Cityhopper is now a customer of Helvetic Airways’ technical services division. Under a new on-call agreement concluded between the two airlines, KLM Cityhopper will benefit from Helvetic Airways’ expertise and facilities at its Zurich maintenance base. The new partnership initially covers the on-call provision of maintenance services for aircraft of the Dutch airline’s Embraer E-Jet E1 and E2 fleet. But a subsequent expansion of the agreement has not been ruled out. The collaboration is also intended to exploit synergies between the two partners.

“This new agreement is a recognition of the extensive knowledge and experience that our technical services division has accumulated on the Embraer E-Jet aircraft family since 2014,” says René Mamet, Chief Operating Officer (Part 145) at Helvetic Airways. “And it’s a particular honour for us that a company as reputed as KLM has now chosen to benefit from our expertise.”

With twelve E2s among its sixteen Embraer E-Jet aircraft, Helvetic Airways currently operates one of the world’s biggest E-Jet E2 fleets. The Swiss-based regional airline offers similar technical services to other air carriers, too. In the medium term, Helvetic aims to establish a global Embraer competence centre at its Zurich Airport base.