SriLankan Airlines has become one of the few organisations in the world to have carried out an important mandatory modification of engines on the Airbus A340, one of the world’s most widely used aircraft.

SriLankan Engineering, the aircraft engineering arm of SriLankan Airlines, is now carrying out modifications on the CFM-56 engines of SriLankan’s own fleet of A340’s at its aircraft engineering facilities at Bandaranaike International Airport.

A M Ariyasena, Base Maintenance Manager, said: "SriLankan Airlines is one of only seven aircraft maintenance organisations in the world to have performed this modification of CFM-56 engines is a considerable achievement that our national carrier and our country can be proud of. The other institutions are in Europe, Canada and Hong Kong. We are also achieving a significant cost saving for the airline, and conserving foreign exchange by carrying out the work in Sri Lanka."

The modifications are mandatory requirements by the engine’s manufacturer, which must be completed on every CFM-56 engine in use in all airlines by the end of 2008. It comprises a set of upgrades to strengthen the structural integrity of the engine’s exhaust section, known as the C-duct or the Thrust Reverser. This is vital in reversing the direction of thrust to bring an aircraft to a halt on landing. Most other airlines using A340 aircraft are going through the costly and laborious process of removing their engine thrust reversers and shipping them to Europe for the modifications.

Amila Thudugala, Technical Services Engineer, said: "SriLankan Engineering’s aircraft engineers and technicians are doing a marvellous job on these engines. We have completed work on the first two engines in only 55 days, which is much less than the expected time. We expect to bring the turnaround time down to 40 days as we gain more experience in this very precise task."

The project to modify the CFM-56 engine thrust reversers had commenced in 2004 with SriLankan sending some reversers to France. But with the recent upgrading of SriLankan Engineering’s own capabilities and infrastructure, the airline decided to carry out work on the remaining engine thrust reversers in-house starting in February 2008.