Global Maintenance Day

To mark the first-ever Global Maintenance Day, today we’re celebrating the dedication of all Airbus maintenance engineers behind the scenes who take care of the safety of the whole in-service Airbus family fleet around the world. Did you know that the aviation industry will need over 700k maintenance personnel by 2035? Find out how maintenance is at the heart of our purpose and you too may just get inspired to make a career out of it!

To find out more about maintenance at Airbus we talked to Laure Partouche, Maintenance Program Engineer based in Getafe, Spain.

Laure Partouche, Maintenance Program Engineer

Laure, what’s it like to be a maintenance engineer at Airbus?

A maintenance engineer ensures that a product remains safe and reliable at optimal cost. So in a company like Airbus, you can find different kinds of maintenance engineers. Personally, I’m part of the Customer Services team in charge of developing the scheduled maintenance program for the entire Airbus Commercial fleet. This includes a set of minimum maintenance tasks and the frequency of completion, which are necessary for the continued safe operation of our aircraft. This set is used as a basis for each operator to develop its own maintenance programme with the approval of the regulatory authority. We work closely with suppliers, civil aviation authorities and operators to develop and evolve the maintenance programme through the life of the aircraft. It means taking into account aircraft modifications, but also gathering in-service data. Our team is focused on safety and our customers' needs to ensure that our aircraft spend the minimum time on ground and the maximum time in flight.

What in particular attracted you to this field?

After 15 years in the design office within different roles in France and Spain following the development of the A350, this position offers me the opportunity to understand how our aircraft are operated after delivery. I really enjoy having a global view of the aircraft, throughout its life in operation. We are at the same time close to the product, close to the program, to the design office and of course to the customer and authorities. It’s a job where each action has a direct impact. This field of engineering is not very well-known and yet very rewarding from a professional point of view. To define the maintenance programme, we have to understand the function of each part or system and anticipate the failure cause and how to detect it. Our job is not limited to mandatory inspection for safety purposes. We have to ensure operations without technical interruption, and to balance the cost of preventive maintenance against the cost of failure consequences. In addition, we are working in a multicultural environment. Our teams are based in Europe and the United States and interact with colleagues  in Canada, China and India. We all have different profiles, different backgrounds and experiences which is very enriching professionally and personally. I learn and grow everyday.

We heard that you are working on an exciting project at the moment. Can you tell us more?

There is always a new project in the pipeline. I can't say right now but we are preparing a very special aircraft that will soon be flying to Paris Air Show! Our team is fully involved in supporting the ongoing airworthiness and certification for all our programmes including new additions like the A350 Freighter. The goal is to continuously improve all our current maintenance programmes and together with our colleagues from Engineering, we help to anticipate the impact on operations, maintenance costs and complexity of our aircraft of tomorrow.