On April 29, 2024, Lufthansa Technik Malta (LTM) announced the completion of its first heavy maintenance check on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The finished C-check on a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (registered SP-LSC) follows just months after the company announced in late 2023 that LTM would expand its product portfolio to include MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) services on the Boeing widebodied twinjet.
LTM invested several million euros to prepare its site located at Malta’s Luqa International Airport (MLA) in preparing for the technical support of the Boeing 787. This included the training of its engineering teams as well as the procurement of the necessary tooling and equipment needed to perform maintenance on the type.
According to a Lufthansa Technik statement, the completion of the overhaul of the LOT 787 means that “LTM can now further strengthen and expand its role as the European competence center for base maintenance of widebody aircraft”.
A standard C-Check on a commercial aircraft comprises extensive checks of the various systems of the aircraft and its structure, which in the case of the Boeing 787 consists to a large extent of composite materials. According to LTM, the company was able to build on its own extensive experience in dealing with these modern materials, which the company has gained over many years of supporting the Airbus A350, for example. The work also drew on LTM’s previous experience of carrying out such specialist engineering work as NDT (non-destructive testing) procedures for composite materials.
“We are very pleased with the completion of the first base maintenance check on our Boeing 787-9 by Lufthansa Technik Malta,” said Krzysztof Krolak, Vice President of Technical Operations at LOT Polish Airlines. “This significant milestone, which comes only months after LTM’s announcement to expand its product portfolio to include Boeing’s popular long-haul widebody, underscores the robust capabilities and technical expertise within the Lufthansa Technik network.”
“After years of servicing only Airbus models here in Malta, it feels special that we now once again actively service a Boeing aircraft type. And with LOT’s unique special livery, what better way could there have been to introduce the Dreamliner in our facility,” said Maria Cilia, LTM’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an important milestone for us and stands as further testament to how much this company has grown and evolved into a wide-body center of excellence.”
“I would like to thank our customers for their great trust in our services. Special thanks go to my team for their dedication, passion, and continued commitment to our customers and our company.”
“The recent layover not only marked the first 787 check for our team in Malta, but it also marked our first ever base maintenance services for our valued Polish customer,” added Andreas van de Kuil, Vice President of Central Sales Europe and CIS.
“I also thank LOT Polish Airlines for their trust in this cooperation, which we hopefully can deepen even further in the time to come,” he added.
About Lufthansa Technik Malta
Lufthansa Technik Malta was founded in 2002 as a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Air Malta (since rebranded as KM Malta Airlines). Based at Malta International Airport, the company offers a wide range of line and base maintenance services for short-haul Airbus A320, A320neo, and long-haul Airbus A330, A340, A350, and Boeing 787 aircraft.
The company employs around 600 aviation engineering staff and serves a wide range of international airline customers.
The aircraft involved in this first C-Check at LTM first flew in June 2018 and entered service with LOT Polish Airlines later that same month. It carries 294 passengers in a three-class layout and sports a special external color scheme marking Polish independence. It entered the LTM hangar in Malta on April 7, 2024, following a two-hour and 25-minute ferry flight from Warsaw Airport (WAW).