SINGAPORE—Capital A MRO affiliate Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) has completed the company’s first Airbus A320 tailcone removal and installation.
The so-called AJY Empennage Project is part of the company’s expansion in A320 MRO services, including the opening of a new hangar in the 2024 third quarter.
ADE says that in addition to its crew undergoing training, it was loaned equipment by Airbus and procured a specialized crane for the procedure.
The entire process took 10 crewmembers 72 hr. to complete.
The company adds that the ad hoc removal of the tailcone was carried out to access the empennage area of inspection. Such a process is usually carried out by manufacturers, ADE says, but now is included as part of ADE’s specialized services offering if required.
“The AJY Empennage Project stemmed from a critical inspection requirement for an Airbus A320 with the registration number 9M-AJY, belonging to AirAsia,” ADE says in a statement. “The need to access the empennage area for inspection led to the decision to remove the tailcone.”
The Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database shows the AirAsia A320 registered 9M-AJY is nearly 12 years old, with 23,224 hr. clocked. It was put into storage between March 2020 and December 2020 due to the pandemic.
The new hangar at Sepang, Malaysia, will bring ADE’s total MRO capability to 16 lines, including two lines at Johor Bahru. The company says it has plans to expand that to 20 lines in three years.
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