Deployable and Dependable. Meet Pratt & Whitney's Line Maintenance Services Team

Pratt & Whitney’s (P&W) Line Maintenance Services (LMS) team knows what it takes to Go Beyond. Based in Dallas, Texas, this mobile team is known for its rapid response, traveling globally to ensure that it surpasses customer expectations with best-in-class service.

LMS is centered on safety, quality and reliability. For nearly 15 years, the team has supported the company’s emergency maintenance requests, ensuring the highest technical dispatch and issue mitigation standards. 

“LMS supplements work completed by our global maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) providers, providing on-site customer support for on-wing and near-wing repairs. Our proximity to the customer helps us provide quicker turn times and economic benefit for both the customer and the company,” said Kevin Thomas, general manager, LMS.

P&W’s dedication to both customer satisfaction and keeping their fleets flying surpasses international borders. “Fulfilling our global mandate has taken us to Kazakhstan for engine changes, India for engine upgrades and Russia to support GTF flight testing,” said Ali Hasan, operations manager, LMS. “Regardless of where we land, our team is laser-focused on its mission to serve the enterprise and deliver results.”

While Pratt & Whitney continues to expand its global MRO presence, having announced several new shops throughout Europe and China last year, the LMS team is also evaluating opportunities to establish a foothold in China, which means that Chinese and Asia Pacific operators would benefit from even closer support.

LMS attends to internal and external customers, including Pratt & Whitney’s Engine Leasing (PWEL), GTF Program Office, Engine Services, P&W Engineering, lessors and commercial airlines when they urgently need support. On any occasion where there are challenges with engines, P&W turns to LMS to alleviate the incident before it escalates to an in-shop visit. The team acts as intermediaries that can provide time and cost-benefits.

“In 2019-2020, we achieved 179 retrofits in the field and at home, resulting in approximately $100 million in cost savings to the customer and P&W,” said Ali. “When a repair requires an engine be removed from the wing, the aircraft-on-ground waiting period and shop visit expense can add up.”

“Our borescope inspection and blending capabilities can streamline the labor, time and cost of the overhaul,” said William (Bill) Gillespie, customer service manager, LMS. “The borescope is an optical instrument designed to assist the visual inspection of narrow, difficult-to-reach cavities in the engine. Engine blades can spin at incredible speeds. Should anything fly into the engine and nick the blade, we can use a borescope that has a grinding tip similar to a Dremel power tool to repair the defect.”

The LMS crew is renowned for its borescope blending capabilities, an expertise that has earned it consultations with manufacturers on equipment design updates. The team is also often invited to demonstrate their process for engineers and other industry support functions.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, P&W’s LMS team did not let the unprecedented challenges damper its commitment to customers. The team produced travel guidelines and benchmarked health and safety best practices.

“Amongst other changes, we needed to adapt to domestic and international travel restrictions as well as health and safety guidance,” said Ali. “I’m proud to say that we spent almost a month developing rigorous checklists and procedures for travel that are now utilized across the company to protect against the virus. Our work requires that we are agile in the face of unforeseen challenges, so we were prepared to take the pandemic head-on and as problem-solvers, we were in the best position to develop safety standards.”

The future is bright for LMS. The team enters 2021 prepared to meet demand as it grows and further unite the enterprise, promoting superb customer satisfaction – all while keeping costs low.