Boeing has developed a new program for its 777 that increases the time between some required maintenance tasks, which can translate into annual savings of more than 400 labor-hours per airplane, and an additional day of service for each airplane per year.

Using industry averages, the reduced maintenance costs and increased revenue opportunity could add more than $100,000 in annual value to each 777 in operation, Boeing says.

The new program extends the maintenance inspection interval, set by a Maintenance Review Board (MRB), from 25 to 37 months for zonal tasks, involving such areas as doors, fuselage compartments, struts, and flight controls.  Since these tasks typically require about five days to accomplish, adding 12 months to this maintenance interval can provide significant benefits.

The new program also includes many general maintenance inspections, which have increased from 100 to 125 days.

The improvements are the result of an eight-month effort by an industry steering committee involving 777 airline operators, Boeing and regulatory authorities.

Data on 350 tasks were analyzed for their potential to be included in the program.  The new MRB report was approved by the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency in April, and the resulting Maintenance Program Document (MPD) guidelines will be published this month.  05-08-2006.

Source: FlightTechOnline