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Aeroflot Group has an efficient system of aircraft maintenance and repair, which ensures good working order and reliability of the fleet and in turn the safety and regularity of flights. Aeroflot’s maintenance and repair policy is geared to the development of fleet capacity, technological know-how, use of innovative solutions, and development and training in order to maximise economic efficiency.

The maintenance and repair system includes 10 maintenance bases within JSC Aeroflot and 12 at Aeroflot subsidiary airlines. More than 2000 engineers and technical and ancillary staff are employed in maintenance and repair work at JSC Aeroflot.

Development of the maintenance and repair function at Aeroflot in 2013 occurred as part of ongoing restructuring and expansion of the fleet. Aeroflot is currently acquiring light maintenance capabilities (‘A-check’) for B737 and B777 aircraft. The Company exchanged four RRJ-95B aircraft in ‘light’ configuration for four RRJ-95Bs in ‘full’ configuration. Aeroflot also transferred two B767 aircraft and three A319s to the fleet of its new subsidiary airline, Aurora.

There was a significant increase in work to prepare aircraft for flights, routine maintenance and work to deal with malfunctions, due to a larger fleet and higher traffic. The average monthly number of departures from Sheremetyevo grew by 11.9% versus 2012. Routine maintenance increased 12.8% and technical maintenance interventions at Sheremetyevo increased 3.3%.

The Company maintained the fleet in an excellent state of repair in 2013 despite increased demands on the maintenance and repair system due to fleet rotation and expansion. Average daily flight time per aircraft at Aeroflot matches and in many cases exceeds other top airlines.

The Company initiated a programme of innovative projects in 2013 aimed at reducing costs and improving the efficiency of maintenance and repairs. The programme aims to increase the share of in-house aircraft and component maintenance work and to reduce the share of tasks entrusted to external contractors in order to increase economic efficiency. The programme also includes:

• Development of light forms of maintenance (‘A-check’) for B777 aircraft.
• Development of maintenance and repair of components made by Airbus, Teledyne, Zodiac, etc. for A320 and A330 aircraft.
• Development of maintenance and repair of components made by Honeywell for A320 and A330 aircraft.
• Development of maintenance and repair of oxygen equipment for A320 and A330 aircraft.
• Development of maintenance and repair of new types of equipment on foreign aircraft (WQAR).
• Development of maintenance and repair of new types of equipment on foreign aircraft (smoke sensors).
• Technical nitrogen generation and compression systems.
• Development of light forms of maintenance (‘A-check’) for B737 aircraft.
• Purchase of new thermographic equipment.
• Installation of wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) equipment on A330 aircraft.

In addition to servicing its own fleet, the Company also provided maintenance and repair services to more than 70 third-party organisations in 2013. Revenue from these services amounted to RUB 17.06 million.

Aeroflot aims to develop cooperation with Russian and foreign manufacturers of aircraft and components, and also with specialised maintenance and repair companies. A contract was signed at the end of 2013 with Lufthansa Technik to provide maintenance services for B777 aircraft at a per-flight-hour rate. Also a contract was awarded to Air France Industries to provide technical support for GE90 engines.

Efficient use of human resources in 2013 enabled further reduction of labour costs for maintenance and repair of the main types of aircraft in the Aeroflot fleet.

Aeroflot plans to build a hangar in 2014 to house the В777-300ER. The Company will also carry out replacement of the standard salon lighting systems in A320 family aircraft by an LED system.