Airfoil Services was setup in 1991, with an agreement between Malaysian Airlines and MTU Aero Engines to set up a common jet engine airfoil repair facility in Malaysia. The operations kicked off in 1993 with CF6-50 Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) Blades repair.

In 2002, Airfoil Services was 100 percent owned by MTU Aero Engine.  In 2003, Airfoil Services rebuilt the joint venture, a 50/50 joint venture between MTU Aero Engine and LHT to combine strength in terms of volume, market access, technology and sales

The company continues to innovate and offer customized solutions to its customers worldwide, consistently meeting customer’s objectives and demands.

Today, as a certified repair engine workshop, Airfoil Services continues to add more repair capabilities for different types of engine blades.

WORLD-CLASS FACILITIES

Much of Airfoil Services’ success can be attributed to the company working in the best facility possible.

Located on a 5.9 acre site, the new Airfoil Services factory comprises 6,000 square meters of floor space and approximately 2,500 square meters of office space. The ultra-modern facility is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and high-technology processes.

Organized according to the philosophy of lean production, the repairs follow the flow line principle.

The company has about 380 employees, but that workforce is expected to grow substantially. Despite internal training at Airfoil Services, both Lufthansa Technik and MTU Aero Engine also provide the training for the company’s highly-skilled employees.

In keeping with both partners’ philosophy, Airfoil Services prides itself on its ability to redeliver engine parts to the customer within a short turnaround. With a technical quality equal or higher to the standard embodied by the two German joint venture partners, the repairs are always performed to the highest possible level.

A SMART PROCESS

Airfoil Services takes advantage of both lean and kaizen continuous improvement strategies, making an already successful operation even smarter.

With the price of engines and engine parts continuously increasing, the economic gains using repairs as an alternative to scrapping are huge. The competence of the joint venture partners guarantees that this gain doesn’t show much downside.

Airfoil Services currently concentrates on repairing high-pressure compressor blades and vanes and low-pressure turbine blades.

One technology the company is particularly proud of is high-velocity oxygen fuel erosion coating, a thermal process for coating CFM56 compressor blades. Another example is the Advanced Recontouring Process (ARP), which restores compressor blade performance using a robotic grinder.

Airfoil Services will continue to receive technical support from both MTU Aero Engine and Lufthansa Technik to maintain these and other high-technology processes, keeping its innovation at the highest level possible in both quality and efficiency.

A BRIGHT FUTURE

With two world-class MRO providers joining forces, the experience, competence and know-how of both joint venture partners brought together for the layout and construction of the new Airfoil Services factory as well as the development of repairs and processes.

A highly skilled workforce, state-of-the-art repair methods and innovative flow line principle make Airfoil Services one of the world’s leading centers of excellence in engine blade repair.

All measures have been incorporated to make Airfoil Services a long-term low cost facility. As part of MTU Aero Engine’s worldwide network of maintenance facilities and Lufthansa Technik’s EPAR (Engine Parts & Accessories Repair) product portfolio, this competence center provides excellent services to both joint venture companies as well as other customers, and will continue to do so for years to come.