Air France-KLM and Airbus announced yesterday that Air France SA and Airbus SAS have entered into exclusive negotiations to establish a joint-venture for the provision on a worldwide basis of A-350 component maintenance services (supply chain management, repairs, creation of a worldwide pool of aircraft components).
 
The envisaged cooperation would take the form of a 50-50 jv between carrier and industry and involve the transfer of aircraft components assets belonging to both partners into the joint-venture’s pool.
 
 This jv, combining the expertise of Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Airbus, would entail an optimized commercial offering, aimed at better meeting the growing long-term maintenance needs of the A-350 worldwide fleet (more than 1,000 aircraft on order and 550 currently in service worldwide) through enhanced capacity, an expanded global footprint, and the development of innovative solutions to the benefit of the customers.
 
Its objective is to be operational by the first half of 2024 in line with all compliance requirements and subject to approval by all relevant authorities.