Air Seychelles-Shorts 360 completes major maintenance check in UK |17 April 2007
The Shorts 360 left Seychelles in mid-February 2007 to undergo heavy scheduled maintenance which is in accordance with its Approved Maintenance Programme, a communiqué from Air Seychelles said yesterday.
During the 60-day maintenance, the aircraft’s seats, carpets, hat racks, engines, flight control surfaces were removed to allow for a thorough inspection of the aircraft’s structure.
Some parts had to be replaced due to wear and tear although, according to Air Seychelles’ engineers and domestic flight deck crew, no significant defects were found by the Anglo-Normandy Engineering Company and that the aircraft was in good condition.
The Anglo-Normandy Aero Engineering Company was chosen by Air Seychelles because of its vast experience in the maintenance of Shorts 360 aircraft for major domestic airlines such as European Airlines amongst others, the Air Seychelles communiqué said.
“The company chose to have the aircraft undergo those heavy checks in Guernsey due to the large input of manpower and materials required. Time is of the essence for us and the longer an aircraft is immobilized the greater the risk is for us to run short of capacity,” the communiqué said, adding that the Shorts 360 is a more complex aircraft compared to the Twin Otters who are maintained locally.
The Approved Maintenance Programme of the Shorts 360 is the “E” check which is due every twelve calendar years. Concurrently a ‘D’ check due every 4 years was also carried out. Together, they form the biggest of the maintenance inputs the aircraft would normally undergo during its service life.
A spokesman for the Air Seychelles’ Engineering department announced that whilst the Shorts 360 has had the major revamp it will take a few days to bring the aircraft back into service as it had been specially configured with ferry tanks to be able to fly the aircraft all the way from the United Kingdom.