Tigerair Australia to shift maintenance after problems with Philippine check -source

SIA Engineering

14/09/2018 11:05

* Work done at SIA Engineering Philippines base - sources
    * Jet grounded for three weeks after return from base
    * Maintenance in Asia shifting to lower-cost countries 

    By Jamie Freed
    SINGAPORE, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Tigerair Australia, the
budget arm of Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd  VAH.AX , plans to
move its heavy maintenance work from the Philippines after it
was forced to ground a jet for three weeks for repairs upon
return from a regular check, a source said.
    Jet maintenance work has increasingly been moving to
lower-cost bases such as the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia
over the past few years in Asia, away from countries like
Singapore and Australia. And reports of problems have so far
been rare.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1ML383
    The maintenance check on a Tigerair Australia Boeing 737 jet
was done at SIA Engineering Philippines - a joint venture
controlled by SIA Engineering Co Ltd  SIAE.SI , the engineering
offshoot of Singapore Airlines  SIAL.SI , three sources told
Reuters on condition of anonymity.
    But problems involving the cockpit voice recorder and the
cargo smoke evacuation system were discovered after the jet's
flight from the Philippines to Melbourne on July 31, one of the
sources said. There were no passengers on board that flight.
    Tigerair Australia has been using the Philippines facility
for jet maintenance for two years without incident before the
recent event, but it will now look to move to SIA Engineering's
Singapore base or another provider, the source said. 
    The airline's head of engineering, Rob Furber, told Reuters
that an extensive review of the heavy maintenance had been
undertaken and the 737 jet was now operating without incident.
    Tigerair Australia, however, declined to comment on whether
it would shift its maintenance base. SIA Engineering did not
respond immediately to a request for comment. 
    Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which certifies
overseas providers doing work on Australian jets, said it was
aware of the incident reported to it by Tigerair Australia and
it continued to work with the airline and the maintenance
provider to ensure high standards of safety were maintained.
    SIA Engineering is competing against rivals like Singapore
Technologies Engineering Ltd  STEG.SI , Garuda Indonesia
 GIAA.JK  offshoot GMF AeroAsia and increasingly manufacturers
like Boeing Co  BA.N  to attract third-party maintenance work.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1PE09Y

 (Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Himani
Sarkar)
 ((Jamie.Freed@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6318 4789;))