Nigeria's Arik Air is in the final stage of discussions with Lufthansa Technik (LHT) over expanding their support partnership for its Boeing 737s and Bombardier CRJ900s.

LHT also plans to cooperate by establishing in-house maintenance capabilities for the Lagos-based airline.

It will train engineers and advice Arik Air with know-how when the carrier sets up its own technical operations. However, the planned site will not be part of the German maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider's facility network, an LHT spokesman tells Flightglobal.

The discussions are not yet complete, but they have entered the final phase.

As part of the agreement, LHT will add base maintenance service to its existing component support deal for Arik's 737 and CRJ900s.

This cooperation - which also involves Lufthansa CityLine as line maintenance provider - was originally signed in October 2006, covering an initial contract period of five years.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news