BARCELONA—TAP Maintenance & Engineering (TAP M&E) has gained certification from regulators to service the Leap 1A engine at its facility in Lisbon and plans to open engine MRO slots to the market for 2025.
Filipe Morais de Almeida, Maintenance & Engineering VP Market & Sales at TAP M&E, says the company achieved certification from Portugal’s regulator earlier this year for piece-parts repairs, full overhaul and testing on the Airbus A320neo engine, along with EASA, FAA and UK CAA approvals. TAP M&E says it is in the process of gaining certification from China’s CAA regulator. It has already inducted its first Leap 1A, having carried out quick-turn engine services on several 1A engines.
Almeida says the MRO provider has upgraded its existing test cell at its engine facility in the Portuguese capital, where it also services CFM56-3, -5A, -5B, -5C and -7B and CF6-80C2/A/B and -80E1 engines. He estimates investment in the Leap 1A ramp up to be in the region of “several million euros.”
“The Leap 1A will play a major role in our strategy because it’s the future,” he says. TAP M&E employs around 300 people at its Lisbon engine shop and it is set to grow its workforce next year as it ramps up for Leap 1A services. Almeida says these expansions also extend beyond people. “We need to have space, and we need to have tooling also in order to meet that demand,” he says. “But we are already working on that, and we can propose Leap 1A slots to the market next year.”
Almeida says in 2025, TAP M&E already has allocated maintenance slots. “25 of these Leap slots will be allocated for one customer, and we have additional slots for future customers, and this will be balanced with the existing CFM56 engines although maintenance for those engines will decrease over time,” he adds.
Around one third of TAP M&E’s maintenance work is the fleet of its TAP Portugal airline affiliate with the remaining majority being third-party MRO services.
In order to meet capacity for the Leap 1A, Almedia says it plans to expand its footprint in Lisbon with an additional facility expected to open close to its existing engine shop. Morais says it also has plans for the Leap 1B, the engine option for the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, although this won’t be in the near future.
At its engine shop, TAP M&E also repairs Pratt & Whitney APS3200 auxiliary power units and thrust reversers for Airbus A320 and A330 family aircraft. In its parts shop, he says it is making investments in a hydraulic test cell that can test up to 5,000 lbs. per square inch of pressure which can aid testing in a higher hydraulic environment. He adds that it will also look at further investment in nacelles for the Leap 1A engine to add complimentary parts services to the engine program.
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