WIDEBODY CAPABILITY ADDED TO A NARROWBODY BASE

FL Technics LLC, the subsidiary providing line maintenance services across the Middle East, has expanded its approved capabilities by adding the Airbus A350, Boeing 777, Boeing 787 and Boeing 737 MAX with LEAP-1B engines. The approvals complement the company’s existing narrowbody capabilities and apply at three major UAE airports (Zayed International in Abu Dhabi, Dubai International and Al Maktoum International) as well as across the company’s managed outstations in the region.

The composition of the addition is the significant part. Line maintenance approval is granted by aircraft type, and an organisation approved only for narrowbodies cannot service a widebody parked on the same apron. Adding the A350, 777 and 787 in a single step brings the three most widely operated long-haul types in the Gulf into scope simultaneously, which matters in a region whose principal carriers operate widebody fleets at scale. Arif Alameri, Chief Executive of FL Technics LLC, said the approvals represented a new chapter in the company’s growth and that the objective was to give airlines greater access to capable line maintenance support across its UAE stations while supporting their regional operations and outstation requirements.

ELEVEN TYPES AND THE FLYING SPANNER MEASURE

With the additions, FL Technics LLC’s line maintenance capabilities now cover eleven aircraft types. Alameri described the UAE as a critical hub for airlines operating in the region and beyond, and said the ambition was to strengthen the company’s presence while growing to support airlines across their wider networks. Services span daily checks and borescope inspections, 24-hour aircraft on ground support, defect rectification, troubleshooting, flying spanner and engine changes.

The figure he offered as evidence is the most concrete measure in the announcement: over the past two years the company’s engineers have completed more than 1,500 flying spanner assignments for customers. A flying spanner is an engineer who travels aboard an aircraft to a station where the operator has no maintenance presence, carrying out the turnaround and any rectification required before the return sector. It is the mechanism by which an airline serves a destination it cannot economically staff, and the volume of such assignments is a reasonable proxy for how much of a network an MRO is actually supporting beyond its own bases.

FL Technics LLC is part of FL Technics Group, a global provider of MRO solutions within Avia Solutions Group. Zilvinas Lapinskas, previously chief executive of FL Technics, moved to lead Avia Solutions Group earlier this year, with Saulius Bajarunas appointed FL Technics Chief Executive from 1 September 2026.