MONTREAL, Sept. 25 /CNW/ - Capitalizing on the growth of the Canadair
Regional Jet maintenance market, Air Canada Technical Services today launched
a CF34-3 engine repair product line at its Montreal base Engine Maintenance
Centre. The multi-million dollar investment makes Air Canada the first airline
in North America to offer a lower cost alternative to Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs) for the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of CF34-3
aircraft engines.

“With almost ten years of experience operating the Canadair Regional Jet
and the CF34-3 engine, Air Canada is able to offer both its expertise and a
lower cost alternative as the first airline provider for the CF34-3 in North
America,” said Robin Wohnsigl, President, Air Canada Technical Services. “Our
entry into this growing market is consistent with our business strategy to
become a full service leader in offering nose-to-tail turnkey maintenance,
repair and overhaul of Canadair Regional Jet aircraft.”

The General Electric CF34 family of engines is one of the fastest growing
engine families in the world. There are more than 1900 CF34-3 engines in use
today and their numbers are estimated to grow by more than 140 per cent over
the next nine years to more than 4700 in 2010. Air Canada began operating the
Canadair Regional Jet in 1994, and has 25 in its fleet.

Air Canada Technical Services provides maintenance, engineering, repair,
supply and purchasing to support Air Canada`s mainline fleet of more than 220
aircraft, as well as other airline customers, in five maintenance categories:
airframes, engines, components, line and aircraft cabins. It also provides
material and supply chain management services to the airline industry. Air
Canada Technical Services employs approximately 8200 staff in Canada, the U.S.
and Europe, with six major maintenance base centers located across Canada: in
Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.

——-