Farnborough: Boeing and Norwegian Sign Largest Maintenance Contract in Boeing’s History

Boeing and Norwegian have signed the largest commercial services order in the aircraft manufacturer’s history at Farnborough today, with a new contract for GoldCare maintenance for the airline’s entire 737 MAX fleet and expanded coverage for the airline group’s  787 Dreamliner fleet.

Boeing’s GoldCare program is provides maintenance, engineering and parts support to customers, tailored to their operational needs.

“This agreement marks a historic moment for Boeing and our services business—one we are proud to share with Norwegian,” said Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Ray Conner. “We are honored that Norwegian is expressing its confidence in Boeing’s GoldCare program. We look forward to continuing to build on our long-standing relationship and further prove the advantages and value that our services portfolio brings to their operation.”

Norwegian has 108 737 MAX aircraft on order, with commitments to purchase 92 more planes. The GoldCare agreement for 737 MAX aircraft will launch with the first delivery of this aircraft type to Norwegian in May 2017, and last through 2034.

Boeing has been providing GoldCare maintenance to Norwegian’s Dreamliner 787 fleet since 2012 and the agreement signed represents a commitment to keep adding 787-9 aircraft to the existing maintenance plan.

“Boeing has proven to us over the past four years the value of GoldCare for our operations,” said Bjorn Kjos, CEO, Norwegian. “The reliability and operational effectiveness of our 787 fleet has never been better. We have great expectations and confidence in what we can accomplish by leveraging GoldCare across our 737 MAX fleet as well.”

Boeing currently offers GoldCare coverage to 60 of its customers and more than 2,200 planes.

Some labor and lobbying groups in the U.S. have objected to the operating certificate applications filed by two divisions of Norwegian Group’s airlines, Irish carrier NAI, and Norwegian UK. One of the claims made by Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is that Norwegian represented a “race to the bottom” for airlines.

Norwegian operates more than 100 aircraft with an average age of 3.6 years, which makes it one of the youngest and most environmentally-friendly fleets in the world.