Etihad Airways overhauls cabins on nearly 100 of its passenger aircraft

Etihad Aviation’s engineering department is conducting a massive cabin refurb project to refresh 96 of the airline’s passenger jets while many remain grounded because of ongoing international travel restrictions.

Etihad Engineering, the MRO arm of Etihad Aviation Group, is due to complete the project at the end of June and is carrying out cabin renovations, interior detailing, seat repairs and a full sweep of the inflight entertainment system.

“The cabin refurbishment project is our most extensive collaboration with Etihad Airways to date,” said Frederic Dupont, VP technical sales and customer service, Etihad Engineering.

Etihad Engineering has expanded its operations during the Covid-19 pandemic as third-party customers have brought forward their maintenance checks while their aircraft sat idle on the tarmac.

The current projects involve the delivery of cabin uplift, passenger to freighter conversion, longeron modification, heavy maintenance, major structural modification, parking solutions, painting and deep cleaning of aircraft for both Etihad Airways and third-party airline customers.

“While the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the aviation sector at large, we have been doing our best to find the opportunity amidst the crisis,” said Dupont.

“We have taken advantage of the grounding period and used it to carry out maintenance services to ensure the entire fleet is operating at its optimal and will be uninterrupted by maintenance requirements as services return.”

Etihad Engineering has experienced an increase in parking requests from third-party customers, with the majority of parking slots currently occupied at its facilities.

A number of airline operators have decided to park their aircraft in Abu Dhabi while they remain grounded from passenger operations. www.logisticsmiddleeast.com