Delta Air Lines’ technical operations division will provide engine maintenance support to UPS Airlines for its fleet of Boeing 757-200 freighters.
Delta TechOps announced on LinkedIn last week that it has signed a 10-year contract with UPS (NYSE: UPS) to service Pratt & Whitney PW2037 engines on its fleet of 757s. Delta CEO Ed Bastian also disclosed the agreement during Delta’s first quarter-earnings briefing.
“This is an exciting one for our MRO team and supports long-term revenue diversification and growth,” Bastian said. Both companies are headquartered in Atlanta.
UPS operates 75 Boeing 757 freighters, according to a fact sheet on its website. About half the fleet is powered by P&W and the other half by Rolls Royce engines.
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is one of the largest maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers in North America. Other major airlines with their own maintenance units include American and Lufthansa. The companies inspect and maintain their own aircraft, and make extra money from outside customers.
Last week, Pratt & Whitney announced an agreement to expand annual overhaul capacity by 30% for geared turbofan engines at Delta TechOps’ Atlanta facility over the next decade. The GTF engine is a newer type mostly used to power the Airbus A220 and A320 neo family of aircraft. The extra infrastructure will enable Delta to overhaul up to 450 of the engines per year.
Delta makes money from noncore businesses like TechOps and its jet fuel refinery near Philadelphia.
(Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the UPS 757 freighters are passenger-to-freighter conversions. They are production freighters. The story also suggested that Delta is maintaining engines for the entire fleet. It is only supporting about half the fleet with Pratt & Whitney engines.)
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
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