Minimising Aircraft Interior Maintenance Costs Through Design

Minimising the Cost of
Aircraft Interior Maintenance
TAP Case Analysis
Ana Ricardo, Cabin Interiors & Painting Engineer
Nuno Trigo Miranda, Avionics Engineer

Scope
Where is most money spent when it comes to routine interior maintenance?
Cost driven
areas
• Aircraft seats restoration
and cleaning; (leather
vs. fabric)
• Interior restoration and
cleaning. (stowage
bins, partitions, carpet & floor
coverings)
Cabin Furnishings BFE/SFE
• In-flight Entertainment
systems;
• Galley systems.
Non-exhaustive

Scope
Where is most money spent when it comes to routine interior maintenance?
Cost driven
areas
Cabin Furnishings BFE/SFE
• In-flight Entertainment
systems;
• Galley systems.
Non-exhaustive
This presentation identifies the driving options of TAP seat cover selection for the A320
family, and discusses, from TAP experience with Lie Flat Seat program, improvements in
terms of design, reparability and durability to control seat routine maintenance costs.
In the end some general considerations are given on how can aircraft maintenance programs
be refined to ensure minimum cabin routine maintenance costs.
Objective
• Aircraft seats restoration
and cleaning; (leather
vs. fabric)
• Interior restoration and
cleaning. (stowage
bins, partitions, carpet & floor
coverings)

Minimising the cost of aircraft interior maintenance through material selection
A320fam Seat Cover Selection – Case Analysis
To what extent is it possible to reduce aircraft interior maintenance costs as a
result of improvements in terms of design, reparability and durability?
A310/A340 Lie Flat Seats in B/C – Case Analysis
To what extent can aircraft maintenance programs be optimized to ensure that
routine maintenance is accomplished at an optimal frequency without increasing
non-routine maintenance?
Agenda

Acquisition Cost
Maintenance Cost
Analysis and
Recommendations
Methodology

Acquisition Cost
A320fam Seat Cover Selection
A320FAM
Short haul fleet
Objectives/Constrains:
• Passenger Comfort
• Product differentiation
• Cabin appearance
• Reduced maintenance costs
Acquisition Cost (Leather 33,5€/m2
)
A319 16 850 28.475 9.737 38.212 132 611.396
A320 8 1.000 33.500 11.508 45.008 156 360.061
A321 3 1.250 41.875 14.311 56.186 194 168.557
1.140.014
MxH
Cost (€)
Total
Cost (€)
No. of
Seats
Total Cost
(€)
A/C
Model Qty A/C
Leather
Qty (m2)
Leather
Cost (€)
When this analysis was conducted TAP already had 9 A/Cs with fabric covered seats. Adding
to the retrofit cost, genuine leather initial cost was higher than fabric…

Maintenance Cost
Maintenance Costs
Even though the maintenance
costs over the last five years
are increasing, the option for
leather seats still remains
competitive.
TAP experience confirms that
air conditioning, temperature
fluctuations and impurities on-
board accelerate fatigue of the
leather. Special attention needs
to be draw to cleaning
procedures and periodicity.
In 1998 TAP based its maintenance cost analysis on
Swissair and Lufthansa experiences which indicated an
average durability of 9 years for genuine leather, 3
times superior to TAP fabric experience.
Also, with genuine leather seats there were no removals
for dry cleaning. All cleanings were done in situ, thus
reducing the routine maintenance costs.
0
10.000
20.000
30.000
40.000
50.000
60.000
70.000
80.000
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Year
€

Analysis and Recommendations
TAP experience with the A320fam seats confirms that one the most relevant routine interior
maintenance costs can be highly reduced through proper material selection.
• For the short haul fleet, there
is still a wide spread believe
that genuine leather is more
appealing and prestigious
than fabric
• The genuine leather initial
cost is higher than fabric but
with no unscheduled
removals, no dry cleaning
procedures and higher
durability, the leather
becomes a better option
Our ExperienceLeather vs. Fabric MPM
1 2 3
• Over the first 5 years, there
was an increase in
maintenance costs, however
in general the leather does
not show signs of
degradation, and cabin
appearance remains as
expected
• The leather still evokes a
positive emotional response
from the customers
• The complete replacement of
all the seat covers should be
accomplished every 9 years,
coinciding with a ‘C’ check
inspection
• Covers in good conditions
may be re-used

TAP A320fam Cabin views
Business Class
Economic Class

Agenda
To what extent is it possible to reduce aircraft interior maintenance costs as a
result of improvements in terms of design, reparability and durability?
To what extent can aircraft maintenance programs be optimized to ensure that
routine maintenance is accomplished at an optimal frequency without increasing
non-routine maintenance?

To what extent is it possible to reduce aircraft interior maintenance costs as
a result of improvements in terms of design, reparability and durability?
TAP long haul Lie Flat Seat project was developed in a period of economic recession and had
therefore strong budgetary constrains. These constrains prevented TAP from including some
experience items that could have helped reducing the maintenance costs. The timing for
project launch was also critical.
Design
ROUTINE COSTROUTINE COST
REDUCTIONREDUCTION
Reparability Durability
A340/A310
Long haul fleet
Objectives/Constrains:
• Passenger Comfort
• First movers, reinforcing image
• Strong Budget Constrains
• Best Quality/Cost ratio
?

Routine cost reduction through DESIGN
A310/A340 Lie Flat Seats in B/C
These were some of the items that should have been included in TAP project from the scratch
but due to time and budget constrains only with the seats in operation was possible to correct
them. Units need to be designed to work in the environment that they are intended for!
Position
of user interface parts
Environment
surrounding the seat
Seat Control Panel is placed right were passengers
hold their glasses. Drinks are spilled over the control
board corroding the PCB and the seat becomes
unserviceable. A shop routine task had to be
implemented to isolate the board and the switch.
There is a big gap between the shell and the backrest
which allows several objects to get in, thus jamming the
seat. TAP proposed a bigger cushion foam, but even
with this modification there are objects that get in. TAP
created a routine maintenance task that checks
operation between each flight.

Routine cost reduction through REPARABILITY
Operation and surroundings
The original intent of a seat box was underneath the seat, and the
seat box is not designed for that location, as we confirm from the
modifications we have been accomplishing regarding the use of
silicone for dust and moisture isolation.
Example of a cable installation
In general terms there is a good potential for routine maintenance cost reduction, by facilitating the access
to units. Some tasks involve on-wing procedures, and others involve scheduled removals of units for shop
disassembly and cleaning. For the most part, these programs are recommended by the OEM, and are not optional.
These programs are expensive in that they consume labour resources.
Location of components under the seat assembly
IFE and Seat system are subject to damage from being kicked and
blocked by passenger luggage, and experience heat-related failures
due to the dust and dirt to which they are exposed.
Reducing the qty of components required for both IFE & ISPS
The access and reparability of these systems is seriously
compromised with the increase electronics under the seat.

Routine cost reduction through DURABILITY
After 6months
the Cabin
Appearance is
not acceptable!
Synthetic leather
was not as
durable and
resistant as
genuine leather in
A320fam.
Destructive Tests to the
leather confirmed that it
was weaker than expected,
which meant higher
maintenance costs.
Moreover, the replacement
of the shell cover has to be
done off board.

Routine cost reduction through DURABILITY
Proposed solution
on-board shell cover replacement
Considerations should have been made with
regards to the root structure, passenger profile,
environments such as dust conditions and
temperature and aircraft utilizations.
These factors result in fatigue of the leather,
and the ageing process is thereby accelerated,
resulting in the deterioration of cabin
appearance, as seen in the previous slide.
In order to retain cabin value and delay the
leather degradation, several studies are being
conducted to determine an efficient cleaning
and care procedure for these leather seats on-
board aircraft.
Seats condition and cabin appearance need to
be under constant observation, and it needs
additional manpower, hence a cost increase.
1
2
3
4
Material selection
comments

TAP A340 Cabin views
Lie Flat Seat
Business Class

TAP considerations
A/C maintenance programs and routine costs
TAP has been reviewing the scheduled maintenance tasks to its cabin interior equipment
specially galley equipment. The biggest offenders are LRUs that have internal cooling fans.
The fans direct cabin air through the unit, and the unit acts as a filter retaining the dust and
fibers. Eventually, either the fan stalls out, or the air passages become totally blocked. In any
case, the unit fails from thermal effects, unless it is periodically removed for cleaning. These
programs are expensive in that they consume labor resources.
At TAP we agree that scheduled maintenance tasks or preventative maintenance contribute
significantly to the reliability of the systems. These tasks and their intervals however must be
customized to the operating environment to the aircraft. Considerations should be made with
regards to the root structure, passenger profile, environments such as dust conditions,
aircraft utilizations, aircraft configurations and other factors. As result we have adapted some
of the requirements of the OEMs.
A320FAM
Short haul fleet
A340/A310
Long haul fleet

Minimising Aircraft Interior Maintenance Costs Through Design

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