Mr. A ‘Tis what you have here with the travalators is a direct result of competitive tendering and the specification procurement processes.
Someone out their got their product built into an NBS Standard with an architect and that practice along with quantity surveyors built it into the bills at pricing stage.
Little things like none stock sprockets, pinions, chain pitches , pulleys , motors gearboxes and indeed parts that are certified or hold any form of intellectual property rights are ubiquitous within manufacturing processes in an attempt to lock in future maintenance and repairs for the said business models.
As said sometime ago I know this process these machines and currently some parts are on a minimum 12 week lead time plus shipping from the date final manufacturing is approved.
When the tenders go out to price the works add another 2 months at the very least !
And as for storage some of these parts will need to be held on site in a hangar in dry and clean conditions because my warehouses and those of the competitors in Leicester Northampton and Telford ain’t got the space for long term storage.
Nor would we want to take the risk of damage and loss without a significant payment up front .
All these add to the cost and prices charged.
Some of the chains and pulley and cables might well look the same as parts available from Brammer off the shelf however the risk assessment time and certification processes on these machines will preclude them from use period.
Go have a look on YouTube at some of the botched repairs and DEATHS especially in China and South East Asia , it ain’t nice.
So cut the airport authorities a bit of slack on this matter at the moment , it’s a work in process .
It very costly and will take some time.
if they issue a tender to completely replace the machines we are talking at least a year in procurement , a month to install and several millions of pounds !
The three main assembly plants for these machines have order books and schedules for at least three years already.
So no quick solutions sorry.