China Airlines based in Taipei has signed a multi-year IMS contract with Airbus subsidiary, Satair Group, for a long-term, fully-integrated end-to-end supply chain package covering expendable material for the airline’s Airbus fleet of A330-300s and A350-900s.

The service to be provided by Satair Group, starting from December 2017, includes planning, sourcing, purchasing, logistics, and inventory management covering some 18,000 part numbers. Coverage includes all expendables materials needs of China Airlines and is extendable to affiliates as well.

Houng Wang, Senior Vice President of China Airlines stated: “We are delighted to enter into this broad long-term partnership with our key partner Satair Group. Out of that programme we foresee clearly reduced total cost of operation and higher availability of material at the time of need and thus resulting in premium flight quality service ‎to our passengers and cargo customers”.

“We are delighted to add China Airlines to the growing number of Asia-Pacific carriers who have selected our IMS product offering. The airline will benefit strongly from having a significantly reduced cost of ownership, with a guaranteed performance level provided by Satair Group”, Paul Lochab, Chief Commercial Officer of Satair Group said.

He added: “Airlines want to focus on their core business of serving passengers’ needs and entrust operational support activities such as materials management to experts. Satair Group, as part of the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, provides integrated solutions by breaking old traditions and partnering up with our customers and OEM partners. Our solutions are tailor-made for the supply chain requirements of airlines, MROs and OEMs who want to outsource their non-core activities – such as material management – to ensure total availability where and when they need it. Satair Group is well placed in the market to exceed China Airlines’ expectations to provide this service in a great long-term partnership. We look forward to earning the trust in us over the many years to come.”

IMS was introduced by Satair Group as a strategic initiative to respond to customers’ growing requirements for a fully flexible and integrated expendable supply solution in a collaborative approach and service for all aircraft types. With IMS Satair Group is directly involved in supporting the aircraft availability, which goes well beyond a traditional customer-supplier relationship. For China Airlines and Satair Group it’s time to go above and beyond.