Christchurch Engine Centre on Comeback Trail

The Christchurch Engine Centre came into existence on April 30, 2001, when 320 staff left Air New Zealand Engineering Services (ANZES) and began employment with the JV.

The Christchurch Engine Centre's "products" were the maintenance and overhaul of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D jet engine and the Rolls Royce Dart turbo-prop engine, both of which had been operated in Air New Zealand aircraft and been maintained in Christchurch for many years.

Barry Geddes, General Manager of the Christchurch Engine Centre, says: "Given the world's pool of both engine types, the business looked like being a winner and it started to expand. Moves were also being made to introduce a third product to the JV, the IAE V2500 new generation jet engine installed on short-haul Airbus aircraft."

Then came September 11.

Prior to September 11 there were some 9,300 JT8D engines still in use around the world. Within weeks some 1,900 of these engines were no longer being operated, and by the end of 2001 about 25% of all JT8Ds were on aircraft that were either parked or stored.

The impact of September 11 was almost immediate on the Christchurch Engine Centre. While there was an expectation of 12 JT8Ds arriving for maintenance each month from around the world, from October that number dropped to three or four, many of which the owners did not want work commenced on.

Fortunately demand for work on the Rolls Royce Dart engine was not affected. At the same time as the JT8D business was in freefall, a special technical inspection requirement for the Dart increased that business by almost 100%.

Work began in October on a fight back plan which had four parts to it:

1. to retain necessary skills by placing excess staff on leave, re-deploying staff and where possible, seconding staff out to other organisations.

2. achieve the maximum advantage from the improving Rolls Royce Dart engine opportunities

3. put together a sales plan to recover lost JT8D business

4. retain as much as possible the V2500 knowledge and facilities already introduced.

For three months up to 50 staff were on annual leave each working day, using up accumulated leave. Staff were loaned to Safe Air and ANZES in Christchurch and Auckland. Towards the end of the year seven engineers were sent to the Pratt & Whitney JV engine plant in Singapore for 12 months. However 41 staff had to be released in November 2001.

Many Government officials and departments were asked to assist in knocking down international barriers and assisting with customer relations. They included the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, the Office of the Minister of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, the Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs, the High Commissioner to Canada, the New Zealand Embassy in Washington, Investment New Zealand and Industry New Zealand. "Tremendous and positive support was received from them all," says Barry Geddes.

In conjunction with Pratt & Whitney in the US, a major worldwide JT8D sales campaign, which included approaches to at least 40 potential customers, was designed and launched. Christchurch Engine Centre sales staff travelled the world for weeks visiting these potential customers.

Three major gains in the JT8D business have been achieved:

- the Federal Express business was regained (FedEx has been one of the main sources of JT8D work)

- the first Canadian customer, Westjet, was secured

- the first African customer, Nationwide, was secured.

By the end of the year, the centre is planning to have maintained some 75 Dart engines, and be back to a level of ten JT8D engines per month.

Barry Geddes says: "Despite September 11 and the resulting world airline recession, the first anniversary of the Christchurch Engine Centre will see the business back from the black hole it fell into. The whole experience was particularly harrowing for staff, as it was for others in the industry around the world. While in a financial sense, the business is only half way there, the spirit of our staff has returned."