Arnstadt, 07 November 2016. N3 Engine Overhaul Services (N3), the joint venture between Lufthansa Technik AG and Rolls-Royce plc. set up for the purpose of maintaining and repairing aircraft engines, has been authorised to maintain and repair the engines of the Airbus A350. The federal aviation office (LBA) awarded N3 the operating license as a part 145 maintenance organisation for the Rolls-Royce large engine type Trent XWB.
Approval has been secured on schedule, before the planned delivery of the first Airbus A350 to Deutsche Lufthansa, which is expected in winter and will be based in Munich. Lufthansa Technik will provide all aircraft maintenance and spare parts for the Deutsche Lufthansa Airbus A350 fleet. As part of this extensive maintenance concept, N3 Engine Overhaul Services is responsible for maintaining the Trent XWB engines.
It is expected that N3 will start receiving planned deliveries of Trent XWB engines in Arnstadt in the coming years. N3 mechanics are currently using a Trent XWB training engine to test tools and to apply assembly processes, approved by LBA.
N3 Director and General Manager Alexander Stern stresses that: “With the operating license for the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine we have secured our future. The A350 engine will become a dominant feature of N3 Engine Overhaul Services’ business in the coming years. Thanks to our high reliability and efficiency, we are an important partner in the maintenance network of our parent companies.”
The operating license for the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB adds a fourth engine model to the Thuringian company’s product portfolio. At the same time, N3 is also building up its repair capacity for engine components. For instance, the company has also become the first and only company in Europe to be awarded the right from Rolls-Royce to carry out Blisk repairs (Blisk is a component within the high-pressure compressor) on Trent XWB engines. N3 will also perform repairs to the components used to mount the Trent XWB engine to the Airbus A350. Investments are being made in specialised machinery for these new repair processes.
N3 Engine Overhaul Services: 2017, ten years in operation
In April 2017, N3 Engine Overhaul Services will celebrate its 10th anniversary. N3’s facility has been set up especially for maintaining and servicing Rolls-Royce Trent series engines. Currently, the product portfolio contains the Rolls-Royce models Trent 500 (A340), Trent 700 (A330), Trent 900 (A380) and Trent XWB (A350). The company has been operational since 2007 and is located in the Erfurter Kreuz industrial estate, in Arnstadt. Initially N3 served just 3 airlines on behalf of Rolls-Royce, this number has now grown to over 30 airlines from around the world. To date more than 760 Rolls-Royce engines have been repaired.
Thanks to the location of N3’s Erfurter Kreuz facility with its good local infrastructure, engines can be delivered quickly from the major German airport hubs of Frankfurt and Munich (home of Deutsche Lufthansa’s Airbus A350 fleet), as well as from Luxemburg and Amsterdam. With 600 employees, N3 Engine Overhaul Services currently repairs around 100 civilian engines from Rolls-Royce’s Trent engine family each year. N3 quickly developed a very good reputation within the international Rolls-Royce Approved Maintenance Center (AMC) network through high quality, high flexibility and delivery dependability.
By adding this new engine type to the N3 portfolio, the number of engines repaired each year will gradually increase from 100 to 150 in the coming years. N3 has training schemes in place to ensure the availability of skilled workers for the long-term. At present, 54 young men and women are being trained by N3. This year, the first group of future employees for warehouse logistics also began their training.
Rolls-Royce Trent XWB – the world’s most efficient large engine
The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is the most efficient large civil aero engine in the world and the only engine designed for the Airbus A350 XWB family, providing 84,000 to 97,000 pounds of thrust. The Trent-XWB´s efficiency contributes to the twin-engine A350 XWB offers fuel savings of 25% over previous aircraft generations. XWB stands for “extra wide body” and refers to the design of the A350, which offer space for 318 passengers thanks to its wide fuselage. (Source: Airbus)
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Contact
N3 Engine Overhaul Services GmbH & Co. KG
Joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Rolls-Royce plc
Gerhard-Höltje-Str. 1, 99310 Arnstadt
Tel: +49 3628 5811 247, Fax: +49 3628 5811 8247
Email: presse@n3eos.com, Internet: www.n3eos.com
Registration: Amtsgericht Jena HRA 103052; Corporate headquarters: Arnstadt; General partner: N3 Engine Overhaul Services Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH; Registration: Amtsgericht Jena HRB 113770; Management board: Alexander Stern and Erin Somers; Advisory Board Chairman: Tom Palmer