S7 Technics’ Moscow base is ready to welcome the Boeing 737 MAX

S7 Technics, Russian provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, has prepared its Moscow’s Domodedovo airport site for the maintenance of the latest generation of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

The MRO specialist’s Domodedovo facility is approved to carry out maintenance procedures on the Boeing 737-7/8/9MAX powered by CFM International’s LEAP-1B engines under its own EASA Part 145 certificate which was earned in November 2018.

The company’s Moscow-based technical team of 15 personnel have been trained for the type and have all the necessary tools and equipment at their disposal for Boeing 737 MAX line and base maintenance, up to but currently not including C-checks.

They received their theoretical training at S7 Technics’ training centre as well as hands-on experience at Boeing’s production facility in Seattle, WA, the USA. The S7 Technics training centre added the Boeing 737 MAX capability to its EASA Part 147 license in February 2018 and prepared the first group of B1+B2 category technicians last spring.

In response to a growing demand in the region for maintenance staff training for western-built aircraft, S7 Technics’ training centre expanded its facilities in the second half of 2018. Now, in addition to classroom space at its Domodedovo hangar complex and three dedicated rooms at the S7 Training (Domodedovo district, Bityagovo locality, 10 km from Domodedovo Airport), the training centre has also acquired four classrooms at the Volamir Business Centre, some four km from Domodedovo. Apart from this, S7 Technics also offers on-site staff training elsewhere. For instance, the training schedule for the Boeing 737 MAX has also recently been completed at Ufa.

“The creation of our own centre 10 years ago to provide European-level staff training primarily for S7 Technics has helped the company reduce the cost of staff training compared with relying on outsourced services in foreign centres. We have been helping to train technical staff for many Russian airlines and MRO providers, thereby contributing to the financial success of S7 Technics whilst also catering to the needs of our holding with regard to highly qualified staff,” comments Igor Ivanovsky, director of the S7 Technics training centre.

According to S7 Technics’ estimates, within five to seven years, Russia’s collective fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft will stretch to 100 units, so the MRO market for the type is clearly poised for growth.

“The Boeing 737 MAX, along with the Airbus A320neo, will gradually replace the previous generation of narrow-body aircraft. Whereas today in Russia, just like elsewhere in the world, more than half of the MRO market is for Boeing 737NG and Airbus A320ceo, by 2029 this niche will be fully occupied by the MAX and the neo. In other words, the Boeing 737 MAX MRO market appears to be a perspective to us,” adds Igor Panshin, deputy general director for planning and sales at S7 Technics.

“We are already offering support to Boeing 737 MAX operators in terms of line maintenance at our line stations. Our staff members are already trained for working with this type of aircraft, so we will be ready to satisfy the growing demand for Boeing 737 MAX maintenance services,” he concludes.

Sibir Technic, the Novosibirsk, Tolmachevo-based facility of S7 Technics holding, has already commenced such work on the Boeing 737 MAX. This means that Boeing 737 MAX operators can now choose between S7 Technics sites in Siberia and in the European part of Russia.