Casablanca-based Royal Air Maroc -- "The Wings of Morocco" -- has ordered 29 shipsets of Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglets for both retrofit and new aircraft deliveries. Beginning in January and completing in late 2006, the carrier will upgrade 16 737-700s and 737-800s with Blended Winglet Technology. These performance upgrades will be accomplished at Royal Air Maroc Engineering & Maintenance Facility in Casablanca. In addition, Royal Air Maroc will take delivery of 13 shipsets as Buyer Furnished Equipment (BFE) on new 737-700s and -800s.
RAM Engineering & Maintenance center has more than 40 years of experience in aircraft maintenance, has Moroccan civil aviation approval, FAA 145 and EASA 145 certificates enabling it to maintain European and US registered airplanes as well as the RAM group of airplanes.
"This is the largest single order ever received from an operator in Africa," says Aviation Partners Boeing Director of Sales and Marketing Christopher Stafford. "APB is also very excited to be working with Royal Air Maroc to become an approved installation center for the retrofit of Blended Winglet Systems."
Having previously operated a Blended Winglet Equipped 737-800, Royal Air Maroc was sold on the benefits of this Performance Enhancing Technology. "After a trial period on one B737-800, RAM was convinced to go to a 100% Blended Winglet equipped 737 NG fleet," said Adil Messeoudi, RAM Head of Engineering. The decision was motivated by a combination of reasons including block fuel savings of up to 5%, which will save the carrier over 100,000 gallons of fuel per year per aircraft and result in a payback on the investment of less than 3 years.
Royal Air Maroc serves 40 countries, with over 1,200 flights per week. A number of long-haul routes from Casablanca -- including Libreville (2206 nm), Cairo (1990 nm) and Istanbul (1783 nm) -- will particularly benefit from the Blended Winglet Performance Enhancement.
Tags: Morocco, Fes, Maghreb, news
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