RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/C/W/279 
7 February 2007 
 (07-0522) 
Council for Trade in Services  
  
 
SECOND REVIEW OF THE AIR TRANSPORT ANNEX 
 
EXAMPLES OF THE USE OF ELECTRONIC MEANS TO PROVIDE 
AIRCRAFT REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES  
 
Note by the Secretariat
1  
 
 1. At the 12 September 2006 meeting of the Council for Trade in Services devoted to the review 
mandated under paragraph 5 of the Ai r Transport Annex, the Secretariat was requested to prepare a 
note containing examples of the use of electronic m eans to provide aircraft repair and maintenance 
services. 
2. This note lists a number of such examples drawn from the public websites of a sample of 
maintenance providers.  Providers ha ve been selected in order to offer the maximum number of facets 
of their activities.  They are:  two aircrafts manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus; two Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), one specialized in engines, General Electric Engines (GEE) and 
one specialized in avionics, Honeywell; one ai rline subsidiary, Lufthansa Technik; and one 
independent provider, SR Technics. 
3. The examples given do not prejudge the classi fication of the activities described, nor their 
mode of delivery, nor their legal status as services or as a part of the "supply of a service" as defined by article XXVIII (b) of the GATS.
2 
4. The examples are presented in a chart with thr ee columns.  The first column gives the name 
of the provider and the activity, as defined by the provider itself;  the second column contains a brief description of the activity in questi on;  and the last column gives the precise reference of the example 
on the websites of the providers concerned.  The descriptions are direct quotes from the providers' websites, as the Secretariat did not feel it had the technical capacity to re-phrase or summarise this highly specialised literature. 
_______________ 
 
 
                                                     
 
1  This document has been prepared  under the Secretariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO.  
2  Article XXVIII (b) of the GATS : ""Supply of a service" includes the production, distribution, 
marketing, sale and de livery of a service".  
  S/C/W/279 
Page 2 
 
 PROVIDERS AND 
ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION REFERENCE 
Boeing 
 
- "Airplane Health 
 Management" service 
 and "MyBoeingFleet"  portal "Airplane Health Management  (AHM) is a maintenance decision support capability provided via the 
MyBoeingFleet.com portal. Airplane Health Management uses real-time airplane data to provide enhanced fault forwarding, troubleshooting and historical fix information to reduce schedule 
interruptions and increase maintenance efficiency. It delivers valuable information when and where it's 
needed. Advances in data processing, transmission, and analysis makes this possible. AHM integrates the remote collection, monitoring, and analysis of airp lane data to determine the status of an airplane's 
current and future serviceability. It converts the data  into information that you can use to make the 
operational or fix-or-fly decisions." http://www.boeing.com/commercial/ams/mss/b
rochures/airplane_health.html 
Airbus 
 
- "Airn@v", 
 "Airman2000" and  "AOLS" services  "Airn@v covers the following: an airline documen tation retrieval system (aircraft maintenance 
manual, illustrated parts catalogue, trouble shooting manual etc ), an interactive trouble shooting tool 
in autonomous mode or in connection with Airman2000, a generator of requests for information 
(RFI)and requests for revision (RFR) a system providing extended dynamic update for Airbus Temporary Revisions, Technical FollowUp (TFU) and customer data, a generator of job cards and 
shopping list.  It is integrated with the cust omer's portal Airbus On line Services (AOLS)". 
"Airman 2000 is an e-trouble shooting tool that pr ovides real time aircra ft technical follow up, 
preventive maintenance actions (trend monitoring co ncept) and analysed maintenance data available 
for engineering to optimise aircraft technical follow up processes." http://www.content.airbu sworld.com/SITES/Cu
stomer_services/html/acrobat/fast_31_p17_25_
air_nav.pdf 
  
 
http://www.content.airbu sworld.com/SITES/Cu
stomer_services/html/acrobat/fast_36_sbnc_p2
1_27_150.pdf 
Honeywell 
 
- "Aerospace E Source" - Allows "to check on the order status of specific parts that have been sent for repair [...]" 
- Provides a "secure online point of entry fo r customers on unit status as well as access to 
Honeywell's interactive database for findings specific parts, repair centre location and product pricing" 
- Comprises a "return management function in order to "request permission to return a product for repair", and an e-catalog containing technical publications including manuals, bulletins, temporary 
revisions and letters." https://www-
a.honeywell.com/esource/uws/Repairs.jsp 
General Electric Engines 
 
- "Customer Services 
 Standards" "GE provides critical overhaul documentation through digital communications.  Customers will 
receive a Communications Package (Engine Receipt Confirmation within one day of receipt; Missing 
at Incoming Report within five days of engine induction), Shop Visit Findings Report (within one day 
of engine shipment), Final Records Package (Life Limited Parts Report, Service Bulletin Compliance, 
Off/On Log, Test Data and Fan Blade Mapping with in one day of engine shipment), Initial Invoice 
(within three days of engine shipment) and Fina l Invoice (within 30 days of Initial Invoice)." http://www.geae.com/services/maintenance/ove
rhaul/nosurprises.html 
- "Used Serviceable 
 Product" Contains a "point and click part tracking syst em." http://www.geae.com/services/material/usedser
viceable/index.html  
   S/C/W/279
 Page 3
 
 PROVIDERS AND 
ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION REFERENCE 
General Electric Engines 
(cont) 
 
- "Diagnostics Service" "Through a variety of tools including GE's Fl eetVue, Fleet Manager and Root Cause Analyzer, 
customers can view real time aircraft / engine status  including faults.  In addition, customers can view 
all engine alarms and performance plots and combine that with historical information to make 
decisions on alarm disposition.  Disposition options include closing the alarm, updating the alarm with 
comments or putting engines on a watch list for follow-up or corrective actions.  An enhanced plotting tool and root cause analyzer are av ailable for further analysis.  Finally, GE is also reviewing the data 
and providing customer notification reports of impending issues." 
"An optional service called "comprehensive diagnostics" provides in addition for "a range of customized engine health monitori ng services such as trend monitoring & diagnostics, Regulatory 
reporting, engine exceedance & fa ult troubleshooting.  The basic level of comprehensive service 
combines automated trending & analysis of your engine's health with daily monitoring by GE's 
Diagnostics team and periodic technical reviews of your monitored engine fleet.  The customer may 
optionally add weekly or monthly reports to satisfy regulatory reporting requirements.  For aircraft 
equipped with air-to-ground communication and engine exceedance reporting, GE offers the option of providing analysis and troubleshoo ting of real-time exceedance data.  Another level of comprehensive 
service provides customers with automated fault re porting of engine & aircraft systems, real-time 
engine fault monitoring, 24 x 7 dedicated coverage, line troubleshooting support, daily "weekly trend" fault reports and links to dispatch of On Wing Support and parts distribution centers." http://www.geae.com/services/information/diag
nostics/index.html 
Lufthansa Technik 
 
- "Aircraft Condition 
 Monitoring Service" "Data indicating the current status of expensive aircraft components such as engines is continuously 
recorded during operation and sent by data link to the ground.  This real-time data stream is then evaluated in Lufthansa Technik’s diagnostic centre at Frankfurt airport.  Pre-defined limits on the 
measured parameters are set based on the experience of Lufthansa Technik engineering.  An alerting 
system ensures that Lufthansa´s maintenance personn el notices any change in any of the measured 
parameters which exceeds the predefined limits.  In addition, the parameters are analyzed even below 
the pre-defined limits for negative trends, which indicate an upcoming engine failure." http://www.lufthansa-
technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtportal.portal?requestednode=93&_pageLabel=Tem
plate5_6&_nfpb=true&webcacheURL=WF/Ser
vices---Offers/Maintenance-Services/Maintenance-M anagement-Service--
MMS-/Additional-Engineering-
Services/Additional-Engineering-Services.xml 
- "Flight Data Recorder  (FDR) Readout 
 Services" "Lufthansa Technik offers regular parameter checks as well as incident analyses.  Regular parameter 
checks are a part of scheduled maintenance, where the authority demands a regular check of specific 
recorded parameters.  As a customer of the Lufthansa Technik FDR services you do not get large data 
tables, but a quality report which certifies the mandatory or customized parameter check for plausibility.  In addition, Lufthansa Technik offers FDR recordings analysis to support the customer in 
the identification of reasons for technical or operational problems.  The FDR Analysis service is 
available every day around-the-clock, and covers a wide range of aircraft types." http://www.lufthansa-
technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtport
al.portal?requestednode=93&_pageLabel=Tem
plate5_6&_nfpb=true&webcacheURL=WF/Services---Offers/Maintenance-
Services/Maintenance-M anagement-Service--
MMS-/Additional-Engineering-Services/Additional-Engineering-Services.xml  
  S/C/W/279 
Page 4 
 
 PROVIDERS AND 
ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION REFERENCE 
Lufthansa Technik (cont) 
 
- "Reliability online 
 Information System 
 (LORIS)" "Lufthansa Technik Online Reliability Information Syst em (LORIS) is the new instrument for in-depth 
data analysis.  LORIS is web based and is accessible via our password protected Customer Lounge.  It 
enables customers to view their reliability data online and to co-operate with our customer engineers 
from any location in the world.  Numerous reporting and evaluation functions allow the users to 
effortlessly carry out reliability analyses over the internet.  All documents are provided over secure 
web space, fully protected, for each individual customer." http://www.lufthansa-
technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtportal.portal?requestednode=96&_pageLabel=Tem
plate5_6&_nfpb=true&webcacheURL=WF/Ser
vices---Offers/Maintenance-Services/Maintenance-M anagement-Service--
MMS-/Reliability-Management/Online-
Reliability-Information-System/MMS-Reliability-LORIS.xml 
- "Maintenance Control 
 Center" "The Maintenance Control Center provides technical support and trouble shooting assistance to main 
base and line station ground engineers, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  A team of technical 
specialists at Frankfurt Airport provides trouble shooting support for all systems and engines on all Airbus fleets and the Boeing B737/B747/ B777-Family.  This includes support of maintenance staff in 
interpretation of technical manuals and prioritization of measure steps.  Many  years of experience and 
knowledge of best practices will help the operator to minimize the impact on aircraft operation and 
effective use of manpower and material.  This support can also be extended to assist flight crews 
during flight and at non-maintenance stations.  F light crews will be provided with technical and 
operational recommendations, for example failure determ ination, required corrective actions and flight 
diversions." http://www.lufthansa-
technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtport
al.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template5_6&requestednode=167&webcacheURL=WF/Se
rvices---Offers/Mainten ance-Services/Support-
Services/Maintenance-Control-Center/WF_suse_maintenance_control_center.x
ml 
(e) "Planning and Control 
 Service" "Lufthansa Technik has developed and implemented generalized/ custom-made software, which is 
suitable to plan aircraft utilization, the completion of maintenance requirements, deadline control as well as the rapid dissemination of information, providing an overview of the processes." http://www.lufthansa-
technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtportal.portal?requestednode=168&_pageLabel=Te
mplate5_6&_nfpb=tru e&webcacheURL=WF/S
ervices---Offers/Maintenance-Services/Support-S ervices/Production-
Planning-and--
control/WF_suse_PPC_planning_and_control_services.xml 
- "Weight and Balance 
 Service"  "Lufthansa Technik's Weight and Balance Loadsheet Software was developed especially for it allows 
independence from airports and ground infrastructure3 and avoids the use of manual loadsheets." http://www.lufthansa-
technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtport
al.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ma_weightandbalance&requestednode=1601&node=1601&
action=initial 
                                                      
3 Airport charges are assessed on weight .  
   S/C/W/279
 Page 5
 
 PROVIDERS AND 
ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION REFERENCE 
Lufthansa Technik/ 
AirLiance  
 
- "Material Trading 
 Service"  "Formed by United Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa Technik, AirLiance provides a wide range of 
aircraft parts procurement and inventory management services Customers can utilize advanced web-based tools to view part certifica tions and documentation or place and track orders from an extensive 
inventory." http://www.lufthansa-
technik.com/applications/portal/lhtportal/lhtportal.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Template5_
6&requestednode=375&webcacheURL=TS_M/
Services---Offers/Supplementary-Services/Material-
Trading/Material_Trading.xml 
SR Technics 
 
- "Data Management 
 Services" "Data management [services consist in the] archiving of engine documentation, storage on micro-film 
and digital media, provision of conformance statements (phase-out activities) or history of Life Limited Parts (including back to birth history)." http://www.srtechnics.com/cms/index.asp?Topi
cID=348 
- "Integrated Airline  Solution (IAS)/Fleet  Technical Management 
 (FTM) Services "  "IAS interconnects with customer operation through our Fleet Technical Management (FTM) 
activities. Our FTM team will measure and compar e your technical operation performance with 
jointly-agreed target deliverables on a daily basis. Any trend deviation triggers proactive measures 
from the joint engineering team to implement corrective actions.  The resulting improvement in 
performance is monitored and controlled, while this circle is continuously repeated." http://www.srtechnics.com/cms/index.asp?Topi
cID=353 
- "e>Customer Portal" "Our unique SR Techni cs e>Customer portal is internet accessi ble and is based on our state-of-the-art 
SAP system, allowing easy access to customised real-time data and repo rts.  This data includes the 
following as standard: reliability reports (aircraft and components), aircraft modification status, engine 
condition monitoring, flight hour and cycle reports and check interval and due dates.  An internet-
based user interface (read-write) is an integral part  of the portal, feeding back data into the SR 
Technics SAP R3 system.  SR Technics provides you  as an operator with controlled online access to 
all required SAP R3 transactions through a web browse r and Citrix applications, thus allowing you to 
fulfil your Post Holder Maintenance function and duties." http://www.srtechnics.com/cms/index.asp?Topi
cID=513 
- "Planning Disposition  Service" "SR Technics provides the overall planning (time frame and maintenance content), check scheduling 
and definition of work packages to be performed on a daily basis.  Depending on the maintenance set-up, we delegate all required maintenance work to be done on the aircraft via our e>Customer portal to 
the customer line maintenance." http://www.srtechnics.com/cms/index.asp?Topi
cID=377 
- "Configuration Control  Service"  "SR Technics processes the individual flight time a nd flight cycle data of the customer's aircraft and 
controls and reports on the aircraft configuration status. We also provide the necessary documents (Airworthiness Directives, Services Bulletins and component status), frequently on CD ROM. The 
same data is available and accessible to you th rough our dedicated e>Cust omer internet portal". http://www.srtechnics.com/cms/index.asp?Topi
cID=382 
- "Defect Investigation  and Analysis Service" "Failure analysis and investigation is always necessary following an aircraft incident or the repetitive 
occurrence of a failure.SR Technics ’ trouble shooting department has the know-how and capability to 
make remote recommendations to the cust omer's line maintenance engineers."  http://www.srtechnics.com/cms/index.asp?Topi
cID=391  
  S/C/W/279 
Page 6 
 
 PROVIDERS AND 
ACTIVITIES DESCRIPTION REFERENCE 
SR Technics 
 
- "Engine Trend 
 Monitoring Service"  "Engine trend monitoring includes automatic data pr ocessing & visualisation (24-hour data access for 
customers), review and recommendation of corrective actions watch lists and trends reports." http://www.srtechnics.com/cms/index.asp?Topi
cID=344 
 
 
 
__________