Allegiant Air was experiencing increasingly high maintenance costs and downtime due to the impact of climatic conditions on its maintenance operations.
They looked at the IglooMX® to solve the issue and built a business case to improve their operations.
The Problem
Allegiant Air is an LCC, with a current fleet of 77 x Airbus A320 and 18 x MD 80s aircraft.
Line maintenance costs are considerable when hangar space is required, as the allegiant workshops in Florida and Vegas do not have hangar space.
It was recognised that winter AOG situations took considerably longer as crews had to be rotated due to the cold weather conditions. During the summer months, the Florida heat and afternoon rain showers also impacted on their downtime for maintenance work.
The Challenge
To get a cost-effective “rapid deploy” enclosure for the maintenance crews. It had to be portable, compact, easy to use and require little training so that it could be moved downstream with ease. The impact of its use would drive down the need for a hangar slot and critically reduce maintenance costs and downtime.
The Approach
Looking at the mixed fleet, JB Roche were able to offer the IglooMX® A320 Nose shelter for windscreen replacements. With modification, the same unit could have dual-purpose use to facilitate engine work on the MD80 in addition to the A320 Nose/Windshield work. The Airbus approved IglooMX® A320 Engine Change would be suitable for the rest of the Allegiant fleet.
It was determined that three strategic base locations would have both a Nose and Engine change shelter. This approach would allow for scheduled maintenance to be carried out with a “rapid deploy” to downstream incidents covering North, South, East, West and Central North America. South America was also covered by the West coast station.
Allegiant put its business case together and forecasted a saving in maintenance costs of $600,000 annually with this strategic deployment of the IglooMX®.
With a lifespan of >10 years, the IglooMX® could potentially save the Airline $10million plus in costs.
The Result
Over a weekend in February 2018, there was an AOG in Des Moines. The Allegiant AOG team had discussed and made plans for such an incident. Hangar space was not available and with the outside temperature at 8F, it would have taken the mechanics up to 19 hours to do an engine change, based on previous experience in similar conditions.
In the interest of safety and preventing any risk of exposure to personnel during the engine change, this would have involved rotating the mechanics out regularly to avoid body and hand temperatures dropping below a safe working level.
Instead, the IglooMX® A320 Engine Change Hangar was sent to Des Moines while the replacement engine was in transit. When it was used for the first time, the swap out was done in just 6 hours.
A heat cart was used, pumping warm air into the enclosure which kept the guys comfortable and made a difficult job a straightforward one. This was a job that previously could have taken 19 hours given the conditions.
The feedback from the maintenance crew on the ground was “This Kit is awesome”.
The result: Significant time and cost saving for Allegiant, with a safe and happy crew!
Consider the conditions that the maintenance crew in this case study had to work in and other extreme weather conditions like heat, wind and rain that maintenance crews are expected to work in.
With the shortage of aircraft mechanics globally, providing comfortable and safe working spaces should be seen as a way of retaining staff.
A mechanic is more likely to move Jobs where better working conditions are on offer.
This is no longer a consideration or driver for them if you have the IglooMX® enclosures available for use.
The IglooMX® enclosure brings this extra benefit to you.
