easyJet Celebrates 100th Engine Overhaul

easyJet, the UK's largest airline, was delighted to attend a celebration event in Cardiff yesterday to mark the 100th easyJet engine to be serviced at GE Aviation Wales.

The factory based in Nantgarw, just North of Cardiff, services a range of aircraft engines and completed the servicing of the 100th CFM56 engine for the airline this month.

Guests, including Chief Operations Officer of easyJet Warwick Brady, attended a celebratory event held at St Athan to mark the significant milestone, and to recognise the 150 - strong team who are employed to work on the CFM engine line, including aircraft engineers, apprentices, interns and support staff.

Warwick Brady, Chief Operations Officer of easyJet said: "Reaching this milestone would not have been possible without the vision and hard work of many people at easyJet and GE Aviation Wales, who by working together have created a successful partnership. Working with GE Aviation Wales has given us access to one of the best, highly skilled and knowledgeable teams in the aviation industry."

The contract to overhaul the CFM56 engine for easyJet began in 2007. It is estimated that over 400 engine shop visits will take place over the next 10 years.

Adrian Button, Managing Director of GE Aviation Wales said: "Overhauling the 100th easyJet engine is a fantastic achievement for GE Wales and a significant milestone in our partnership with easyJet. From the first engine into the shop to the 100th, our commitment to delivering a quality product, on time with technical excellence has not wavered.

"As we celebrate our accomplishment, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has worked on this contract over the last five years. As a site we are extremely proud of what we have achieved and we look forward to continuing to work closely with easyJet."

GE Aviation Wales occupies over 1.2 million sq. ft. and has two state-of-the-art engine test facilities. Employing a highly skilled workforce of over 1,200 people, the facility provides customer support for a range of global companies including Emirates, Continental and British Airways.