Lufthansa Technik Aero Alzey (LTAA) is celebrating ten years of providing MRO services for the CF34-10E this month.

The engine is used on Embraer’s 190 and 195 regional jets and its Lineage 1000 business jet.

LTAA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik. The company added the CF34-1 and CF34-3 to its portfolio in 1991, and these were joined by the CF34-8 in 2002. Since then, LTAA has supported more than 550 CF34-10E shop visits and more than 270 on-site visits for customers.

In 2014, the 100th shop visit of a CF34-10E took place.

Despite manufacturer GE announcing the discontinuation of new production of the 10E in early 2020, LTAA believes the engine still has a bright future. “More than 1,500 CF34-10 engines are currently in operation around the world, and the 10E is currently experiencing a revival,” explained LTAA’s Vice President Marketing & Sales Raimund Schnell. “We have up to 120 maintenance events per year, and we are assuming further growth in the coming years.”

Prior to the introduction of the CF34 family’s largest engine, which produces up to 20,000 pounds of thrust, LTAA enlarged its existing test bay. Preparations were needed for those engine modules that were likely the most maintenance-intensive parts for operators, the company added.

LTAA said experience “quickly revealed” that the low-pressure turbine (LPT) in particular was showing signs of wear. So the company developed an LPT module modification programme. “At the heart of the programme is the on-site removal of the LPT followed by a workshop repair – cost-effectively and with very short turnaround times: up to four days for the removal and reinstallation of the LPT module, plus up to nine days for the required changes to the module in the workshop,” the company noted. “The entire process thus lasted just 14 days – as opposed to the more than 35 days required for a regular workshop visit. In addition, it was possible to dispense with the test run that otherwise would have been necessary.”

LTAA largely developed the tool sets needed to replace the module and procured the fixtures for removing and transporting the engine as well as the transport containers for the LPT module. The programme was not limited to its facility in Alzey, it said, as LPT modules were removed and reinstalled at sites in Beijing and Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. “During the last expansion stage of the programme, the LPT modules were even completely modified in Tulsa and no longer had to be transported to Alzey,” LTAA said.

LTAA’s entry into service manager CF34-10 Thomas Breit commented: “In addition to the benefits for customers, the LPT module modification programme also enabled us to eliminate the backlog created by the delayed introduction of the CF34-10 at LTAA, and maintain our standing with respect to the competition.”

In parallel, a “top and lower case procedure” for the compressor was developed with GE, and introduced to deal with more sizable compressor damage, Breit added. “It considerably reduced the work needed for these repairs. The procedure was first carried out on-site for a customer in Australia, avoiding the transport of the engine all the way from Australia to Alzey.”

LTAA also collaborates on the optimisation of manuals and pursues an ongoing exchange with GE, and supports the OEM in short-term projects.