S7 Technics has become the first maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider in Russia and the CIS to perform base maintenance checks on the advanced Airbus A320neo narrow-body aircraft.

The maintenance work was conducted at the company’s Moscow Domodedovo airport site and included the 7500 FH / 5000 FC / 24-month 1С-check. A320neos from the fleet of S7 Airlines have two PW1127 engines by Pratt & Whitney.

25 S7 Technics engineers were involved in the first heavy maintenance checks on the A320neos, including eight specialists with B-type licences. All in all, the task required 5,000 man-hours of labour and took six days for each completed check. ‘”S7 Technics' employees have completed additional courses along with onsite training as part of the company’s A320neo heavy maintenance personnel training programme,” advises Denis Bogdanov, S7 Technics’ leading engineer for airframes and engines.

Another S7 Technics facility, at Novosibirsk’s Tolmachevo Airport, is shortly to also start offering heavy maintenance checks for the A320neo. “We are getting ourselves ready for even heavier checks on this aircraft type that imply maintenance works at six-year intervals. Those mean more thorough checks of the airframe structural elements according to the manufacturer’s recommendations,” Bogdanov adds.

The A320neo, which acquired EASA and FAA certifications in the autumn of 2015, is a re-engined and highly efficient variant of the A320 Airbus family.

S7 Airlines, which operates one of the youngest fleets in Russia, launched A320neo services in the Russian air transport market in 2017.