Gulf Air Ending $750M MRO Contract With SRT

Jan 13, 2009
By Frank Jackman/AviationWeek.com



SR Technics confirmed Jan. 13 that Bahrain-based Gulf Air has given notice that it intends to terminate the five-year, $750 million support contract announced in March 2006. An SR Technics spokesman said the contract will end within six months and that the Switzerland-based MRO provider is studying the implication of the contract cancelation. He declined to disclose the reasons for the termination.

When it announced the contract in 2006, SR Technics, which subsequently was acquired by a consortium of three UAE-based investors, said it would be responsible for total technical management of Gulf Air's fleet of 34 aircraft under its Integrated Airline Solultions product offering and for the phase-in of new aircraft types. Also, the two companies said they would start a joint venture aircraft maintenance and technical training organization in Oman. The status of the JV could not be determined Tuesday.

SR Technics said it employs about 230 people in Bahrain to work on the Gulf Air contract. Work on the contract also is done at SR Techics' facilities in Zurich and Dublin. The SR Technics spokesman said Gulf Air's contract termination will not cause the MRO to change its strategy in the Middle East and that it is putting in a lot of effort to grow in the region.

Photo credit: SR Technics