Boeing and and UK leisure carrier Monarch Airlines have formed a joint venture to collaborate on finding new third-party maintenance customers.

The new partnership was detailed as part of a wider-ranging co-operation under which Monarch has selected Boeing's Global Fleet Care programme – formerly known as GoldCare – for the maintenance of its entire 737 Max fleet.

Speaking at a press conference at the Paris air show today, Monarch chief executive Andrew Swaffield noted that around 50% of Monarch Aircraft Engineering's business is already for third parties.

"We created an agreement that is about co-operating together, looking to grow together, which is coming at a time when Boeing Global Services is being created," he says. "This is a co-operation between us for mutual benefit and to grow business together."

Boeing Global Services is being established from the start of July. Its head Stan Deal says: "We are looking at how we can leverage the capabilities that already exist at Monarch to continue to provide services to other. They have done it independently and we believe there are some collective areas we can benefit from."

As part of the wider service agreement, Monarch has also selected Boeing as its flight training provider for its Max fleet. Swaffield notes the challenge the carrier faces as it transitions from an Airbus to an all-Boeing fleet. "We couldn't ask for a better partner than Boeing to take us through that challenge," says Swaffield.

The airline will also be entering into an agreement with Boeing subsidiary AerData for services pertaining to aircraft records management.

Source: Cirium Dashboard