Pampulha Airport does not live the glorious times when it had a large enger traffic, and not even the last regional flights that operated there. But when I visited the place, I was pleasantly surprised.
Currently, this airport stands out for having four maintenance hangars from Azul, focused on the ATR and E-Jet models, and in the future on the A320neo family.
Shall we check a little bit about how Azul performs the maintenance of its aircraft?
Modifications throughout the TRIP – Azul merger
Azul’s maintenance hangars in Pampulha are an inheritance from Trip, the company that merged with Azul in 2012.
The merger of Trip with Azul was quite complicated from an operational point of view, but for the newcomer in the aviation market it was an operational necessity, due to Trip's slots and fleet.
Until then, Trip ed many differences in the method of operation, the first and widely publicized was in the ing of hours worked by the crew, so everyone ed to Azul's rule, even if Trip's aircraft were still flying in the company's fleet.
And from 2014, Antonio Eick (General Manager of Aircraft Maintenance) was placed in an operational challenge within Azul, to reformulate the maintenance processes of the hangars in Pampulha.
Until then, Trip used a work method not focused on efficiency per hour/man worked, that is, the company did not take full advantage of its work potential. Logically, this reflected on some points that made Azul uncomfortable.
Aircraft used to be late in maintenance, if a B-Check was scheduled to be performed in 15 days, the common thing was to do it in 17 or 18 days. This is undesirable for an airline, which will not have an aircraft in its fleet for three days.
The transition process to Azul's optimized methods was quick, and in 2015 the company was able to implement an inspection and planning process by specialists, under the responsibility of Renan Dapena, which reversed the 3-day delay into an advance on the service, and consequently in the early return of the aircraft to the Azul fleet, improving the use of aircraft.
If the company does not have accumulated services, the Check of an aircraft can continue for up to three shifts.
With this organization and without any impact on safety, Azul's maintenance is able to check an aircraft with a 12% reduction in the time stipulated to check it.
The next step was expansion, with two more hangars available, and one more is still under construction, to serve as a stock of aircraft maintenance and painting parts, avoiding an obstacle caused by the lack of such a part that mechanics need.
Below:
In the first image we have Azul's organization scheme, also available digitally for mechanics.
In the second image we have an example of the maintenance of an E-Jet according to Embraer's recommendations (considering 1,33 hours of use per cycle).
In the third image we have a summary of the aerodynamic surface components of an E-Jet.
Types of Checks that hangars serve
Before starting this part, we first need to explain the characteristics of maintaining an aircraft.
Aircraft are currently governed by MSG-3 rules, a criterion established with ICAO and in cooperation with manufacturers and airlines. It basically describes the planned maintenance processes of an aircraft, that is, components that need to be checked from time to time to ensure that they are in accordance with their original functionality.
This is how aircraft maintenance has greatly improved its quality over the years, predicting defects in aircraft parts well in advance, avoiding breakdowns during flight or with the aircraft on the ground.
For airlines, this means more peace of mind in of security, and also less financial expense, as they can schedule when they need to carry out aircraft checks, and how long it will be out of the fleet.
You decrease the need for reserve planes, and also the cancellation of flights.
With this explanation, we can move on to the next part, the aircraft review.
Aircraft need to undergo overhauls, just like our cars. The great similarity is in of the parts that need revision or replacement, at each given period, check with me and get your car's manual (if you have one).
In an annex in the maintenance part we can see each part that will be revised or replaced, according to the mileage of the car, but in airplanes we usually measure by the hour, even to change the engine fluids, and some parts by cycles of use ( Takeoff and Landing).
It is at this point that the Azul hangar at Pampulha Airport comes in, it does not receive the most basic maintenance, also called Check-A, these can be carried out during an overnight stay at the airport for a short duration, usually involving a failure analysis (today it is possible to do this electronically) and the change of fluids, in six hours with a team of three mechanics it is possible to do this whole procedure, unless the plane has some failure.
In addition, the new planes also communicate to the mechanics the situation of use of each part, through an analysis of sensors, and the computers analyze the data to if they are within the standards, in an Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 it is even possible even predicting how many hours such a part will need to be replaced, and already scheduling a visit to the hangar after X number of flights.
Below photos of an ATR 72-600 under maintenance:
A common overhaul of the E195 demands around 5000 to 6500 man-hours, according to Embraer. Azul says it spends around 350 man-hours per day on E-Jets maintenance. In this data, we for work in the repair and analysis workshops, and also in the assembly and disassembly of components, that is, the entire maintenance process.
But in the first pictures below we can see an E-195 undergoing a heavier Check, which is extremely complex and involves the disassembly of a good part of the aircraft, to check the presence of structural cracks, integrity of wires, pipes and parts.
In the case of this plane, even the front fan fins of the GE CF-34 engine were sent for an analysis of their integrity, to check for cracks and micro-cracks that over time could result in a huge incident if not overhauled.
If Azul needs to disassemble the engine, they send it to GE Celma in Rio de Janeiro, which performs maintenance on these engines and sends them to Belo Horizonte. Upon arrival at the hangar, these engines are again inspected to check for any assembly errors. It is a double check to avoid errors in series, even if the processes are standardized like an aircraft activation checklist.
A workshop at the Maintenance Center is responsible for assembling the external systems, such as the oil pump, fuel pump and the air bleed system, in addition to the engine's electronic control unit.
We have already visited GE Celma in Petrópolis and Galeão Airport, you can check it out by clicking here.
This is how Azul manages to fly its planes safely and calmly, in addition to demonstrating great organizational and planning skills, influencing the company's finances through better use of its aircraft.
See the video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9KZ27JGJqY
