Air Astana has become the first Kazakh carrier to carry out a heavy maintenance 12-year C-check, which was conducted on an Air Astana A321.
During the check, comprehensive in-depth inspections and tests were conducted on all parts, plus the aircraft was systematically stripped down for full inspection of its structure and components, including inside the fuel tanks.
Robert Dando, director of Astana Technical Centre and C-Check maintenance, said: “Our successful completion of the first heavy maintenance 12-year C-check on an Airbus A321 serves to confirm the sophisticated and growing capability of Air Astana’s engineering resource and staff.
“The ongoing commitment to develop in-house maintenance strength has significantly reduced costs previously incurred when heavy maintenance tasks were undertaken outside Kazakhstan.”
The A321 that underwent the 12-year C-check has been flying in Air Astana’s fleet since 2012.
Non-destructive testing methods were used to achieve some of these inspections. Major components such as the engines were removed to inspect their attachments and structure.
After completing these tasks, the aircraft was rebuilt, and then extensive system tests were carried out.
After all maintenance was complete, a maintenance check flight was performed to ensure everything was functioning correctly, from flight controls to in-flight entertainment, before the aircraft could be released for passenger operation.
Air Astana was approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency to conduct 12-year C-checks on Airbus A320/A321 aircraft in 2023. Air Astana performed its very first 1C-check in 2019, the first 2C-check in 2022, and the first 6-year C-check in 2023.
In total Air Astana has now completed 32 C-checks in-house.
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