Dubai: Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries will provide repair and upgrades for the 131-9 Auxiliary Power Units (APUS) installed on Boeing 737 Next Generation and Airbus A320 aircraft.
This is following a 10-year licensing agreement with US manufacturer Honeywell, the largest producer of gas turbine APUs found on many leading aircraft.
“Owners and operators of these aircraft can now repair their APUs locally in the Middle East, instead of sending them to facilities outside the region,” said the company in a statement.
“SAEI is already an important partner for us, and the company will soon become Honeywell’s first APU licensed service center for narrow body APUs in the Middle East region,” said Mohammed Mohaisen, president and CEO, Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Central Asia, Honeywell. “This appointment extends our relationship with SAEI to better serve our customers in the region by giving them access to faster, locally accessible maintenance services. Our strategic partnership supports SAEI’s Saudi Vision 2030 objectives and is further proof of Honeywell’s commitment to localization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
SAEI began its collaboration with Honeywell in 2013 as part of Saudia Group’s SV2020 Transformation Strategy to elevate the company’s business units into leading organizations by 2020.
“We are delighted to be appointed as the first authorized global Honeywell service center in the Middle East region for the 131-9 APUs and proud of our strengthening relationship with Honeywell,” said Captain Fahd Hamzh Cynndy, CEO, SAEI. “I am confident that our industry-leading capabilities will provide airline owners and operators with easy access to reliable, cost-effective and timely services, enabling them to achieve enhanced safety and efficiency while offering superior passenger connectivity and convenience.”
Honeywell’s first APU took to the skies in 1950, and the company has built more than 100,000 since then. More than 36,000 APUs are in service today across over 150 regional, executive and commercial applications, including both fixed-wing and rotary-wing.
