Latvian national airline “airBaltic” introduced the media representatives to the aircraft maintenance process. The existing technical hangar, which is located in the territory of the “Riga” airport, has room for three planes, but a new hangar is in the design stage, which will allow to increase the capacity.
The truth is that even if one of the planes, which is currently undergoing maintenance, will be ready for flights in a week, it will remain on the ground because there are no engines. Currently, eleven “airBaltic” planes (out of a total of 39) cannot fly, because their engines have not undergone the necessary maintenance – some are in the repair factories of the manufacturer and maintenance company “Pratt&Whitney”, which is unable to complete the work on time.
On the other hand, part of the engines have been waiting for their turn to be sent to “Pratt&Whitney” in the airline’s technical hangar for almost a year.
The maintenance hangar is filled with both engines and other aircraft parts related to engine replacement. “airBaltic” Director of Operational Management Pauls Cālītis says that under normal circumstances they would not be parked here.
