The location of TAM Airlines’ Maintenance Operation Center (called “MRO” for Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) is in a unique location. It is not found at a major airport or even within a large city. It is located about three hours (by car) northwest of Sao Paulo (GRU) in the middle of farm land.The facility used to be a tractor factory, with a runway built next to it to fly in the company’s parts. Turns out building your own airport and flying in parts, rather than shipping them via road, was not the best business decision and the tractor company went out of business.TAM saw this as a great opportunity to purchase the land and open their MRO. Large facilities already existed and, more importantly, a runway. So just over a decade ago, TAM opened up their MRO about 15 minutes north of Sao Carlos, a town of around 220,000. I was recently invited to check out the facility, and it was a semi-adventure just getting there.There is a variety of work done at the MRO, including landing gear, hydraulics, pneumatics, upholstery, wheels & brakes, composites, machining, ATEC & electronics, electroplating, and thrust-reversers. Most noticeably, what they do not work on are the engines – those are sublet out.
TAM works on their fleet of Airbus A330s, A320s, and Boeing 767s at this facility. All the work on the Boeing 777s are done in Singapore by Singapore Airlines. When the Airbus A350 is added to TAM’s fleet, it also will be worked on at the Sao Carlos’ facility.
Recommend Product
The location of TAM Airlines’ Maintenance Operation Center (called “MRO” for Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) is in a unique location. It is not found at a major airport or even within a large city. It is located about three hours (by car) northwest of Sao Paulo (GRU) in the middle of farm land.The facility used to be a tractor factory, with a runway built next to it to fly in the company’s parts. Turns out building your own airport and flying in parts, rather than shipping them via road, was not the best business decision and the tractor company went out of business.TAM saw this as a great opportunity to purchase the land and open their MRO. Large facilities already existed and, more importantly, a runway. So just over a decade ago, TAM opened up their MRO about 15 minutes north of Sao Carlos, a town of around 220,000. I was recently invited to check out the facility, and it was a semi-adventure just getting there.There is a variety of work done at the MRO, including landing gear, hydraulics, pneumatics, upholstery, wheels & brakes, composites, machining, ATEC & electronics, electroplating, and thrust-reversers. Most noticeably, what they do not work on are the engines – those are sublet out.