The Austrian Automobile Club, the ÖAMTC(1), signed a parts-by-the-hour (PBH) maintenance contract with Eurocopter to cover its fleet of rescue helicopters. With 27 EC135s, the ÖAMTC has one of the largest rescue fleets in the world.

The ÖAMTC celebrated its 25th anniversary in July 2008 and prides itself on its many years of experience operating Eurocopter helicopters. “We’re very happy indeed with our fleet of EC135s,” explains Martin Weger, technical director of HeliAir, the ÖAMTC’s maintenance company. “Our aircraft fly on average 400 hours a year with an availability rate of 97%, and the average aircraft on ground (AOG) time for our aircraft is just threeand- a-half hours. This first-rate performance is due to a well-organized maintenance schedule and fast and reliable spare parts deliveries as guaranteed by our PBH contract. Orders for standard wear parts are delivered very quickly. As far as we’re concerned, the PBH contract is synonymous with speedy deliveries.”

The Advantages of the PBH Contract
“The PBH contract saves customers time,” confirms Andreas Kesselkaul, PBH Manager at Eurocopter. “It also provides them with a personal contact, regular analyses to determine ways to optimize cost-effectiveness and streamline processes, and the most recent configuration for spare parts. The PBH contract also gives customers a more solid basis for maintenance budgeting and planning as the cost per flight hour is clearly established.” Another winning feature of the PBH contract is its modularity: The customer can, in fact, add to the fixed standard offer with various contract modules that provide additional services, which can extend up to full fleet management.

Cooperation and Coordination
Only through constant dialogue with the customer and careful planning can both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance needs be accurately defined. “This is still the crux of the matter,” explains Martin Weger. “We try to keep one-off orders to a minimum, as these cause the most problems, irrespective of who the manufacturer is. But, for routine maintenance (after 400 and 800 flight hours), we know exactly which parts are needed. We therefore make sure that the parts we need are ordered and are consequently delivered on time.” This cooperation and coordination between Eurocopter and the customer helps the latter to reduce its transport costs and delivery times. It also helps Eurocopter to effectively forecast the required capacities, to incorporate any suggestions into its standard operations and to constantly improve the services it offers customers.