OREANDA-NEWS. In 2006, S7 spent 4,000,000,000 rubles (155,496,812 $US) of its own money on a whole range of measures linked to the technical maintenance of its aircraft fleet. 450 major forms of maintenance, including two D-checks for the A310s, were performed on the airline’s 60-plus aircraft. All the foreign-built aircraft obtained by S7 last year underwent a full cycle of repairs and quality control under the guidance of experts from leading global maintenance companies such as Lufthansa Technik and Air Canada Technical Service before they came to S7. In addition, S7 increased its stock of spare parts at its maintenance bases at Moscow Domodedovo and Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airports in 2006. At its own expense, the airline trained the maintenance personnel at more than 30 Russian airports, most of which had never previously been flown to by foreign-made aircraft, to work with Western aviation equipment. We set up a new department for maintaining the furnishings and service equipment in Western aircraft. We acquired new modern equipment for controlling various aviation systems.

"S7 works round the clock to keep its aircraft in proper technical condition, since even in winter in the low season up to 100 or more S7 flights take to the air every day. Each aircraft undergoes mandatory technical inspections before each take-off and after each landing. After flying a certain number of hours, each aircraft undergoes periodic technical maintenance at the S7 Engineering base", said Andrei Petrov, S7’s Deputy General Director for Airworthiness and operational management.

The aim of all these actions is to ensure 100% flight safety and to put into daily working practice the experience of leading airlines and technical engineering centres. In December 2006, S7 began the procedure for undergoing an IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). This year, the airline plans to obtain an official IOSA certificate.