Air NZ turbine business wins US$17M contract

Friday 26th April 2019

Air New Zealand Gas Turbines has won a US Navy maintenance contract worth more than US$17 million.

The business will work on 10 General Electric LM2500 gas turbines used to power the US Navy’s cruiser fleet. The new contract is expected to begin in August and will be concluded in late 2021.

The contract was won in a competitive bid and takes the value of the firm’s work for the US Navy since 2017 to US$55 million.

“This is the third consecutive US Navy contract Air New Zealand has been awarded,” Air New Zealand’s chief ground operations officer Carrie Hurihanganui says.

“The contract is a significant body of work for our business and demonstrates the robust working relationship we have built with the US Navy.”

Air NZ shares rose 0.2 percent to $2.755, trimming their decline this year to about 9 percent.

Air New Zealand has maintained jet turbines since the 1970s. It expanded into the maritime and industrial markets in the 1980s and 1990s and in 2001 folded its Christchurch Engine Centre into a joint venture with Pratt & Whitney.

In 2006, Auckland-based Air NZ Gas Turbines was established as a stand-alone business to focus exclusively on the global marine and industrial turbine market.

It specialises in LM2500 and LM5000 turbines and has technicians based in New Zealand and California. The company says it has clients on six continents, including several of the world’s navies, offshore platform operators and power generators.

(BusinessDesk)

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