City & Delta Announce Maintenance Partnership with Rolls-Royce
Staff Report From Metro Atlanta CEO
Tuesday, October 27th, 2015
Mayor Kasim Reed joined Delta Air Lines Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson and Rolls-Royce President – Civil Large Engines Eric Schulz today to announce that Delta TechOps has been named an approved maintenance center for Trent civil aircraft engines. Delta TechOps, the maintenance, repair and overhaul business of Delta Air Lines and Rolls-Royce will team up to bring advanced jet engines from Rolls-Royce to a 100,000-square foot expanded engine shop at Delta’s Technical Operations Center at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Delta TechOps will add the Trent XWB and Trent 7000 commercial jet engine types to its MRO portfolio.
“As the home of the world’s busiest and most efficient passenger airport, Atlanta is proud to continue and expand its relationship with Delta Air Lines and Rolls-Royce,” said Mayor Reed. “Today’s announcement is a huge win for the metropolitan Atlanta region and the State of Georgia. This partnership will help spur job creation and strengthen our reputation as the logistics hub for the Southeast region.”
"Today's agreement ensures that thousands of Delta TechOps' jobs are secure in the decades ahead," said Richard Anderson, Delta's Chief Executive Officer. "Rolls-Royce jet engines will not only power Delta's international fleet of the future, but now TechOps will be available to support many other commercial operators in the Americas and beyond."
Design work of the expanded engine maintenance facility at Delta's Technical Operations Center in Atlanta will commence in 2016 with construction expected to begin in 2018. The expansion will include space for all aspects of engine overhaul work including a new test cell, a massive concrete installation where stationary jet engines are run at full thrust. Expanded refurbishment areas for blades and vanes, rotors and dozens of other engine components are also planned.
"We thank the City of Atlanta and Mayor Kasim Reed for championing Delta people and working with us to complete this important deal with a world-class manufacturer like Rolls-Royce," Anderson said. "Delta is proud to call Atlanta home and remains committed to working with and investing in the City of Atlanta, in academic institutions like Georgia Tech and injecting millions of payroll dollars in the local economy."
Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Large Engines, said, "We are excited to announce Delta TechOps as a new independent Approved Maintenance Center as we continue to develop a competitive and capable overhaul network. We know that Delta TechOps will deliver outstanding performance on their own engines and those of other customers."
Delta TechOps currently overhauls more than 600 jet engines every year at its Atlanta and Minneapolis/St. Paul facilities. Technicians conduct highly technical, specialized work with industry-leading turn times, ranging from a few days to more than one month. Engine components are disassembled, overhauled, fabricated, reassembled and evaluated by state-of-the-art non-destructive testing that inspects components for imperfections in addition to full-thrust runs in test cells.