MTU Maintenance Zhuhai, a joint venture be-tween Germany’s leading engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Air Holding Company, celebrated the MTU Maintenance group’s 1,000th overhaul of a General Electric CFM56. The engine was delivered to the customer China Southern Airlines today. The celebration event was opened by Frank Bodenhage, MTU Maintenance Zhuhai President and CEO, and attended by 90 guests from both companies. After the opening speech the official certificate of the engine, a CFM56-7, was formally handed over to Li Hui, China Southern’s on-site engineer. The airline operates a fleet of 454 aircraft, 200 of which are CFM56-powered. China Southern is Asia’s largest airline in terms of fleet size and number of passengers carried, and the only Chinese carrier ranking among the top ten airlines of the world.
MTU Maintenance Zhuhai was established as a 50-50 joint venture between MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Airlines twelve years ago. The company is part of the MTU Maintenance group, the world’s largest independent maintenance provider for commercial aircraft engines. Last year, MTU Maintenance handled ten percent of all CFM56-7 shop visits worldwide. Moreover, it had an overall nine percent market share for the following CFM56 models: CFM56-3, CFM56-5B and CFM56-7.