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28 March 2024

Emirates awards contract to Khansaheb

Artists Rendering of Emirates Engine Overall Facility (Supplied)

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Dubai’s Emirates airlines today announced the selection of Khansaheb Civil Engineering to build the Emirates Engine Overhaul Shop; a 225,000-sq. ft. engine maintenance facility for maintaining the GE90 and GP7200 engines that power Emirates aircraft.

Slated to be the most technologically-advanced Engine Overhaul Shop in the region, the facility will service the engines of the Emirates current fleet of nearly 150 Boeing 777s and Airbus 380s, as well as the additional 138 more of these aircraft types on order.

Presently under construction and scheduled to be operational in the second quarter of 2014, the Engine Overhaul Shop will provide Emirates with the maintenance capabilities needed to assure continued safe operation of the engines powering the majority of the Emirates fleet.

Managed by General Electric International (GE) and designed by US-based Burns and McDonnell Corp., the facility is valued at $100 million and will support the maintenance of up to 300 engines per year. Emirates partner, GE will oversee the design and construction of the Shop; utilising the most advanced technology, equipment and industry best practices in managing engine repairs.

“Our new Engine Overhaul Shop will expand our ability to maintain and repair the thousands engines powering Emirates Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 aircraft. With the rapid expansion of Emirates over the past few years and further rigorous expansion scheduled, Emirates needed a way to better control maintenance costs while assuring safe and efficient operation of our fleet,” said Ali Mubarak Al Sorri, Emirates Executive Vice President, Chairman’s Office, Facilities, Construction & Design, Procurement Management and Procurement & Logistics Non Aircraft.  “With the selection of Khansaheb Civil Engineering, a professional organisation based in the UAE, plus the expected Emiratis hired for positions at the new facility, the Emirates Engine Overhaul Shop will benefit all parties involved.”

Emirates reviewed and approved the selection of Khansaheb after a thorough and rigorous evaluation of numerous highly-qualified candidate construction companies across the UAE. A well-established and highly-regarded construction company operating in Dubai, the UAE and the MENA region, Khansaheb Civil Engineering has been in operation since 1935.

In addition to supporting Emirates’ fleet of over 120 Boeing 777s and 28 Airbus 380s, the new maintenance facility will support the Dubai economy by adding as many as 500 new engine maintenance positions for highly-skilled staff within Emirates, many of which are available for UAE Nationals. The Engine Overhaul Shop will complement the state-of-the-art Emirates Engine Test Centre; a 150,000-pound thrust capacity engine test facility already in operation 40 kilometres outside of the city of Dubai.

Emirates and TAP announce commercial cooperation

Emirates and TAP Portugal today announced the start of a reciprocal codeshare agreement enabling passengers from both airlines to benefit from seamless connections effective from December 21, 2012.

The reciprocal codeshare will permit customers to enjoy the convenience of a single combined ticket for Emirates and TAP Portugal-operated flights, in addition to linking Emirates’ frequent flyer programme, Skywards, and TAP’s Victoria frequent flyer programme. The new codeshare services are available for sale today, with travel from December 21, 2012.

Under the agreement, Emirates’ flight number will be placed on TAP services from Lisbon to Porto, Faro and Funchal in Portugal as well as Seville, Madrid and Barcelona in Spain.  TAP will place its code and flight number on several Emirates’ services.

“Europe is a strategic market for Emirates with a strong level of growth and customer engagement in 2012.  This new codeshare agreement with TAP is another key element in our expansion plan across the region. In addition to convenient connections, the reciprocal frequent flyer agreement offers additional benefits for our valued Skywards members by enabling them to earn and redeem their Skywards Miles when flying with TAP,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide.