Jet awards $750 mn deal to Singapore firm

Jet Airways on Monday awarded $750-million contract to a leading Singaporean firm for maintenance support to engines of its 67-strong Boeing-737 fleet over the next 10 years.

Jet and its all-economy subsidiary JetLite awarded the maintenance-by-the-hour contract to ST Aerospace for the CFM56-7B engines which power the next generation aircraft, statements issued by the premier private carrier and the Singaporean firm said.

The pact, signed in Singapore by Saroj Dutta, executive director, Jet and ST Aerospace President Tay Kok Khiang, also encompasses the commissioning of an "Engine Hospital Shop" at Jet Airways' Hangar facility at Mumbai.

Under the contract, which commences with immediate effect, the ST Aerospace Engines would provide comprehensive engine maintenance and engineering support over 10 years.

They would also build an engine shop in Mumbai. The commissioning of the engine shop would enable Jet and JetLite to maintain and service engines of their Boeing 737 aircraft fleet.

"We are confident that as a leading MRO service provider, ST Aerospace will be a reliable partner as we expand our operations," Jet CEO Nikos Kardassis said.

The Singaporean firm said in a statement that work for both airlines would "involve off-wing, on-wing and on-site support, as well as fleet technical and asset management support".

The agreement would provide a high standard of maintenance quality with improvement in technical reliability and longer on-wing life of the engines, it added.

Jet began its relationship with ST Aerospace in 1993 for component services for B-737 Classic fleet, which later expanded to service support for airframe MRO and engines.