Boeing

The Boeing Company today welcomed Polynesian Airlines, the national carrier of Samoa, as the newest airline to join the Next-Generation 737 Spares Exchange Program.

The program, launched in December 1999, frees carriers of costly fleet support tasks while supporting high levels of schedule reliability. Other carriers already in the program include KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Transavia Airlines of the Netherlands, and Braathens of Norway.

With this program, Polynesian Airlines needs only a minimal inventory of dispatch critical line replaceable units (LRUs). These high value items are time consuming and costly to repair, and holding multiple spares in inventory can run into millions of dollars. LRUs are complex avionics boxes, such as the Flight Management Computer or the Flap/Slat Electronic unit.

"For Polynesian, the Spares Exchange Program is an excellent fit," said Mark Owen, vice president of Spares. "The program will help Polynesian reduce their inventory holding and repair expenses as well as bring stability to long term maintenance budget planning. This is another example of how Boeing can help airlines reduce costs and improve their operating efficiencies."

Under the Spares Exchange Program, Boeing ships an exchange replacement within one day of receiving an order. The removed unit is sent to Boeing, which arranges for repair, overhaul or modification. Restored to airworthy condition, upgraded to reflect the latest design changes and returned to the exchange inventory pool, it is ready for service once again for any customer participating in the program. Customers sign up for a term of up to 10 years and pay a rate that covers about 300 LRUs. The rate is based on fleet size and flight hours.