Tour to the Avianca MRO in Rionegro

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Today we take a tour of the Avianca MRO in Rionegro, the newest Maintenance Repair and Overhaul of Avianca and of the region, was officially officially opened on Wednesday 28 September 2017.

I also invite you to visit Avianca's MRO in this AeroReportaje:

With this Aeronautical Center, Avianca expects to generate savings greater than 30 million dollars per year for concepts in maintenance of its entire fleet. During the launch of Everything to Fall in Love campaign we were able to visit this center once again.

As part of its growth and positioning plan, the oldest airline in America and the second in the world, provides since May 2016, maintenance to its entire Airbus fleet (A318, A319, A320, A321 y A330), ATR (ATR72-600) y Boeing (B787 Dreamliner), becoming one of the best positioned airlines in the region, offering a service with the highest technology and highly trained personnel.

The Avianca Aeronautical Center – MRO

For its acronym in English, MRO stands for Maintenance, Repair and Review, where in its first stage the company made an investment of $50 million dollars and subsequently make an additional investment of a similar value. The airline opened its doors for us to get to know this great aeronautical maintenance center, which is enabled to provide maintenance services, repair of components and also as a training center for its own personnel as well as personnel from other airlines.

This modern center has the following characteristics within its first stage, where later they are contemplated 2 additional stages, which will double the capacity of the current center and may have up to 11 maintenance bays.

• Total area
  • 3.000 square meter
• hangar area:
  • 4.000 square meter
  • Simultaneous service possible 5 single aisle aircraft 2 wide body aircraft
• Zones
  • Specialized workshops for the repair of components
  • Aircraft taxiing platform
  • Offices
  • Replacements warehouse
  • Three training rooms with capacity for 25 students

At this Aeronautical Center, they currently work around 1.000 people between technicians, mechanics and others. With conclusion of 2 remaining stages, this number of personnel will be doubled until 2.000 people, which will make it one of the most important MROs in the world. Staff from all over Colombia work here, especially from Antioch, where, thanks to inter-institutional agreements, the hiring and training of local personnel has been promoted. There are also staff from countries that are part of the Avianca destination network, like savior, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica and others, which generated great logistics for the construction of this center that took 2 years and uses unique architectural and engineering techniques in the world.

This MRO is now a complement for Avianca to the existing hangars in Bogotá, San Salvador, Costa Rica and Mexico, an entire maintenance operating apparatus to always have the 210 fleet aircraft, including Avianca Cargo freighters (Tampa Cargo). Rionegro became a new large logistics center for Avianca with the incorporation of the Aeronautical Center, thanks to the facilities provided by the city, available staff and geographical centrality with respect to the airline's network of destinations, more finally, airport facilities.

On 3 candidate cities, the company opted for Rionegro, a small town located 45 kilometers from the great Medellin, inhabited by 120.249 people to 2.080 meters high. Its José María Córdoba International Airport is the second most important in Colombia in terms of passengers and cargo after El Dorado in Bogotá., which reaffirms the importance of this location for Avianca, destination where, on average, something more than 35 Daily flights.

The airport that serves the city of Medellin (THERE IT IS: MDE - ICAO: NOW) has a track 3.557 meters long by 45 meters wide and mobilized during the 2015 almost 7 million passengers, 118 thousand tons of cargo 77.375 operations. Now this airport is going through a stage of modernization of its facade, infrastructure, expansion of terminals and information systems to meet the growing demand.

Alianza with Lufthansa Technik

All the development processes that ended with the construction of the Avianca Aeronautical Center – MRO were carried out under the guidance of Lufthansa Technik., ensuring the highest standards with a partner that is the world's largest and most experienced MRO service provider.

Within the agreement signed between both parties in 2015, where Lufthansa Technik became the largest provider of MRO services for the Boeing B787 fleet, Airbus A330 and the Airbus A320 family, including the new Avianca A320neo, this collaboration has now been extended to a new level, with a complete and close technical collaboration, that allowed the complement between both companies for the elaboration of the global construction plan of the MRO and its future stages of expansion and that now positions both brands as benchmarks in the region with a close collaboration that is pioneer in this part of the world.

MRO Services

The services that Avianca offers in its MRO are extensive, but for now they are focused exclusively on maintaining their fleet, in the near future and thanks to future 2 expansion stages, These services may be extended to other airlines in the region and the world that require a center certified by the Colombian Civil Aeronautics, FAA and EASA for the maintenance of their aircraft. Recently, This center has also been certified by the aeronautical authority of Ecuador.

Among the main services offered in the MRO, the following stand out::

• Overhaul (revision/transformation) of chairs: with his chair workshop, the MRO can offer greater overhaul jobs on crew and passenger seats, reducing logistics costs to its customers and delivering aircraft with better interior conditions for the enjoyment of passengers.
• Manufacture of plastic components: has modern equipment for the manufacture of parts, under injection and thermoforming processes.
• Cab component repair and service: with its accessories workshops and emergency equipment, Avianca offers repair services for aircraft components such as coffee machines, ovens, capuchineras, batteries, lifevest, boats and sliders.
• Hydrostatic tests certified by US DOT: The MRO has the capacity to perform hydrostatic tests on oxygen cylinders and certify them under the US DOT law. (Department of Transportation - Department of Transportation).
• Manufacture of chair covers and rugs: with its experience of retrofit processes (updating aircraft interiors) and new image of the Avianca fleet, can offer its customers the manufacture of chair covers in leather and fabric.
• Manufacture of parts for the use of reverse engineering with 3D camera and CNC equipment: the use of 3D scan cameras was incorporated, which allows reverse engineering of parts that need to be manufactured.
• Modern paint and sanding booth: with capacity for large volume parts such as Boeing B787 or Airbus A320, Avianca installed a paint booth with advanced heating and particle extraction systems that guarantees the quality of its painting process and allows it to work on a large scale.

History of maintenance at Avianca

Since the birth of the airline the 5 from December to 1919 In Barranquilla, Avianca has been characterized by always remaining a pioneer in this area, thus ensuring continuous operation, efficient, but above all safe respecting the highest standards that the industry demands. Apart from the existing maintenance centers in cities like Lima, San Salvador and others, Avianca has formed a network of services designed for a growing fleet and network of destinations.

• The 5 from December to 1919 The German-Colombian Society of Air Transport is born in Barranquilla, SCADTA beginning to operate in the Port of Veranillo, where today the naval base works.
• On 1938 the first hangar is built in Barranquilla, where they develop 1991 the major services.
• The 10 from December to 1959 El Dorado Airport is inaugurated and the provision of major services in Bogotá begins.
• The 24 May 2016 the first service is inaugurated in the new MRO in Rionegro, Antioquia.
• Avianca currently operates two airline hangars in Bogotá and two hangars in Rionegro (Tampa Cargo).

MRO Key Points

• Avianca has a team of engineers and technicians recognized in Latin America for their experience and knowledge in the operation of widebody aircraft such as Boeing B787 and Airbus A330, Airbus A320 family aircraft and turboprop such as ATR 72.
• Avianca is the first airline in the Americas to have a certified center to perform major maintenance on Boeing B787 equipment.
• Avianca has received recognition as the "Award for the Best Technical Reliability of A320 aircraft in America" ​​delivered by Airbus.
• Avianca is positioned as the best operator in technical reliability and one of the best in the world for the operation of its Boeing B787.
• With an innovative design, High productivity and efficiency processes under the LEAN methodology and an eco-efficient construction system, The Avianca Aeronautical Center incorporates from the design of the facilities distributions of the work areas, selection of equipment and working conditions that maximize the productivity of the processes.
• The MRO developed its construction complying with the parameters of the LEED certification -Leadership in Energy & Enviromental Design-, world-leading system that encourages the adoption of practices in the design and construction of sustainable buildings, aimed at preserving the environment.
• Stormwater collection and supply system: The facilities have a system that allows capturing, treat and reuse rainwater in various technical processes.
• Recycling program: The MRO has a collection and selection center for both non-hazardous materials (paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, cans, etc) as hazardous waste (chemicals), for subsequent processing by firms specialized in this work.
• power optimization: The facilities are designed to make the most of natural lighting and minimize the use of air conditioners. The system includes LED lighting and some areas have auto-off sensors..

Technical data Avianca

Avianca MRO photo gallery

Plastics are made in the MRO, generating millionaire savings.

3D printer.

The black boxes are reviewed to ensure their operation.

Passenger seats are reupholstered and repowered.

There is a room where the inflation time of the emergency slides is controlled.

Every millimeter of the plane is checked.

The nose of the plane is one of the parts that usually receives the most damage.

The image is essential, therefore the seats should always look like new.

Cockpit of an ATR72-600 during a check C.

The aircraft engine is inspected according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Inspections are also carried out with drones.

Avianca technicians ensure that each new piece is perfectly manufactured.

Avianca staff reviews the details of this CFM engine.

Details count and guarantee a safe operation.

Here we see the time in which this plane must fly again and the parameters to review.

Every part is important in a maintenance review.

In a Check C, the entire interior of the plane is taken out to review all the details.

This machine is new, allows to make the internal side panels of the plane from scratch.

Video returning from Medellín to Bogotá

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