British Airways has become the first airline in the world to be given approval to overhaul its own A380 evacuation slides. British Airways’ Interiors Engineering division, based in Blackwood, South Wales, will now overhaul slides for the airline’s eight A380 aircraft. Overhaul services will include inflation systems checks, component repairs and replacements, as well as slide testing and repacking. The British Airways Interiors team of technicians will also certify the slides for up to three years.
To achieve this new qualification British Airways’ technicians underwent a training program at the slide maintenance manufacturer, UTC Aerospace Systems’ training and maintenance facility in Phoenix, Arizona. A team of 10 British Airways technicians are already trained, with plans for more to follow.
British Airways’ head of interiors engineering, Ceri Powell, said: “We are delighted to be the first airline to have the capability for maintaining A380 slides. We have made significant investment in training, tools and equipment to become the only airline to be able to do this work and we look forward to supporting the British Airways fleet of A380 aircraft.”
