Air Astana completes first 12-year C-check

Air Astana announced that it is now the first Kazakh carrier to carry out a heavy maintenance 12-Year C-check, which was conducted on an Air Astana Airbus A321 aircraft.

Roberto Dando, director of Astana Technical Centre and C-Check maintenance, remarked: “Our successful completion of the first heavy maintenance 12-Year C-check on an Airbus A321 serves to confirm the sophisticated and growing capability of Air Astana’s engineering resource and staff.

Dando added that the ongoing commitment to develop in-house maintenance strength has significantly reduced costs previously incurred when heavy maintenance tasks were undertaken outside Kazakhstan.

What happens during such a check-up?

During the 12-Year C-check, comprehensive in-depth inspections and tests were conducted on all parts of the aircraft.  

The aircraft is systematically stripped down and a full inspection of the aircraft structure and components is performed, including inside the fuel tanks. The use of non-destructive testing methods are used to achieve some of these inspections. 

Major components such as the engines were removed for the inspection of their attachments and structure. After completing these tasks, the aircraft was rebuilt, and then extensive system tests were carried out.  

After all maintenance is complete, a maintenance check flight is performed to ensure everything is functioning correctly, from flight controls to in-flight entertainment, and then the aircraft can be released for passenger operation.

The Airbus A321 that underwent the 12-Year C-check has been flying in Air Astana’s fleet since 2012. The company plans to perform another 12-Year C-check by the end of this year. 

Air Astana was approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency to conduct 12-Year C-checks on Airbus A320/A321 aircraft in 2023. 

Air Astana performed its very first 1C-check in 2019, the first 2C-check in 2022 and the first 6-Year C-check in 2023, and, in total, Air Astana has now completed 32 C-checks in-house.