Engineering Tomorrow: What keeps Emirates flying high?

Dubai - 5,500 staff at the airline's engineering facility ensures fleet maintenance

Put together 100 Fifa standard soccer pitches - that's the size of the Emirates airline engineering facility in Dubai. It caters to the service requirements of 238 aircraft belonging to the world's fastest growing airline.
The 5.9 million square feet engineering facility, located on the north side of Dubai International Airport, is among the most impressive civil aviation maintenance facilities in the world. It has 5,500 employees in different cadres, including 1,200 engineers.

Video courtesy: SKIRANPRASADPHOTOGRAPHY/YouTube
Emirates airline carried nearly 50 million passengers during its financial year 2014-2015. By the end of 2015, the airline will fly to 149 destinations by adding Bamako in Mali on October 25 and Bologna in Italy on November 3.
The airline is the largest customer of the Airbus A380 aircraft. It has received delivery of 66 super jumbo planes and another 74 aircraft are on order.
Emirates' pending deliveries touch 270 aircraft worth $128 billion, excluding options. The facility is capable of servicing Emirates' existing fleet as well as additional aircraft that are on order and those covered under third party maintenance contracts.
Saving time
A Boeing 777 aircraft has three million parts provided by 500 suppliers around the world. To cut down on time spent waiting for parts to arrive from supply chains in the US and Europe, spare parts worth millions of dollars are kept ready at its facility. Almost all spare parts are stored at the facility, with an availability rate of 97 per cent.
Emirates engineering staff perform both light maintenance and heavy maintenance. A transit check-up takes two hours, heavy maintenance after two years takes up to 22 days and heavy maintenance of a six-year aircraft takes up to 55 days in a hangar. The engineering facility houses 12 hangars. There are seven hangars for heavy maintenance, four hangars for light maintenance and one A380-compatible paint hangar.
"We have a five-year plan for light and heavy maintenance," Keith Carter, Emirates vice-president - overhaul workshops, told Khaleej Times during a recent media tour of the engineering facility.
During the tour, two Airbus A380s were in the hangar for heavy maintenance. An A380 requires 50 to 55 days for heavy maintenance and complete interior refurbishment, according to Carter.
The journalists visited the A380's three cabin classes where the engineering staff were busy stripping out interiors. The aircraft was six years old, one of the earlier models ordered by Emirates, Carter said. An A380 has 16 passenger doors, 22 wheels, 220 windows and 500 kilometres of cables for electricity.
Maintenance
Carter said Emirates tries to repair old parts but they are usually sent back to the manufacturer or the materials are sold as scrap. The proceeds are used by the Emirates airline foundation and staff get-togethers for the engineering department, Carter said.
During maintenance, the engineering department does a thorough check-up - starting from mechanical equipment to coffee machines in first class cabins, seat belts, AV system and life jackets, among others. Every aircraft has survival kits and these include a survival guide, water purifier, flares and food rations, both halal and vegan.
After seven years, Emirates repaints all its aircraft at the dedicated hangar. A team of 30 staff work round the clock for 10 days and use one tonne of paint on a Boeing 777. For an A380, Emirates engineering deploys 35 employees round the clock and use 2.5 tonnes of paint to finish the job in 20 days.
- abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com