Etihad Airways in million-dollar maintenance agreement with Air France

Etihad Airways has expanded its strategic cooperation with Air France-KLM through a several hundred million US dollar component maintenance agreement for its Boeing 777 fleet.

The 10-year deal, effective February 2016, provides Etihad Airways and its equity partners with access to an extensive global pool of components offered by Air France-KLM’s maintenance arm, Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M), for the wide-body aircraft through the 777 Component Services Program (CSP) jointly operated with Boeing. Etihad Airways currently operates a fleet of 33 long-range and extended-range passenger and cargo Boeing 777 variants. 

The maintenance agreement is the latest phase of a partnership struck between Etihad Airways and Air France-KLM in October 2012. The carriers have a commercial alliance involving codesharing on flights across their networks over hubs in Abu Dhabi, Paris and Amsterdam. The wide-ranging codeshare agreement sees Etihad Airways and Air France-KLM offering joint codes on destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. 

Jeff Wilkinson, senior vice president technical of Etihad Airways, said: “Through this latest phase in our relationship with Air France-KLM, we are confident Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance will provide easy, quick, reliable and cost-effective access to components for our triple seven aircraft which are the backbone of our rapidly-growing fleet. 

“It builds on an excellent commercial agreement we have enjoyed with Air France-KLM over the past three years helping to provide the high level of efficiencies required in a competitive environment.” 

Franck Terner, executive vice president of Air France KLM Engineering & Maintenance, said: “We are very pleased with the trust placed by Etihad Airways in our services. This agreement further demonstrates the competitiveness of our component support offer, and AFI KLM E&M’s ability to tailor maintenance solutions exactly matching its customers’ needs.”