MRO Middle East – French providers join together for Middle East strength

The company is called Ames, and is a joint venture company between Air France –KLM and Safran’s Aircelle company.

AMES stands for Aerostructures Middle East Services but the venture sees it as a single brand name. The aim is to bring highly competitive jet engine nacelle repair capabilities to airline operators throughout the Middle East region from its new base in Jebel Ali.

The 2,200-square-meter installation in the free zone area, provides repair and overhaul services that benefit from the expertise of AMES’ two parent companies, which brings together the experience of OEMs through Safran and of operators and MRO thrugh Air France Industries.

AMES was created through demand from the region’s airlines to support the local jetliner fleets of Airbus A320s, A330s, A340s and A380s; Boeing 747s, 767s and 777s, along with McDonnell Douglas MD-11s and more recently Embraer 170/175s. More than 390 of these aircraft currently are in the active inventories of the area’s airlines, with some 200 additional jetliners on order.

The primary focus for AMES is the repair of fan thrust reversers, with the additional capability to handle other nacelle components such as air inlets, cowl doors and nozzles. Its central location enables the company to efficiently serve a region that covers Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as neighbouring countries.

“AMES provides a unique commercial and industrial offer that is backed by Air France Industries as a top provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul services, along with Aircelle’s capabilities as a leading original equipment manufacturer of small, medium and large engine nacelles,” said AMES General Manager Antoine Succar.

“Our services are tailored to meet all of the market’s expectations, with solutions that range from repair and overhaul to logistics, spares and on-site support at customer locations,” explained François Vitti, the Manager of Operations and Customer Support at AMES. “Our business plan is supported by the full resources of our two parent companies.”

The AMES operation in Dubai is being certified to European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 145 airworthiness standards, and it already has initiated industrial activity with the repair of Rolls-Royce Trent 700 thrust reverser doors for a large Middle East airline’s Airbus A330 fleet. Preparations also are underway for this month’s introduction of repair and overhaul services on CFM International CFM56 engines.

AMES’ industrial installation at Dubai has 16 work stations (eight for large engines used on jetliners that include the A330, A380, and 777; and another eight for smaller engines that power such aircraft as the A320 and A340), along with a clean room for composite repairs, a milling shop and a paint booth. The 11,000-square-meter site on which the facility is located allows for growth as the company’s business and capabilities expand in the future.