What QF doesn't like to say in public is that they made a deliberate decision, based on an accountants recommendations to close their Rolls Royce Centre of Excellence 18 months ago, based purely on an expected dollar bottom line basis. They had already planned to expand the test cell to facilitate bigger thrust engines and could have become THE south pacifics RRs one stop shop. The Qantas Engine Line had a formidable record of quality and engine reliability, with world records for longest on wing time for RR engines. When an engine had problems there was a plethora of experience available to lend a hand and give advice. Qantas EOC used to advise RR on how to fix problems.
Bean counters got in there and flushed the whole thing away. They didn't learn a thing from the Sydney Heavy Maintenance experience and the world of pain it caused them when the outsourced their 744 checks. The drop in reliability, the loss of experience, the pressure placed on the rest of the engineering system, the loss of an aircraft to cannibalise.
The 737 fleet is in the midst of the same crap - with the current check in Singapoor a month behind schedule.
Will they ever wake up?
Not till QF is a shelf company with 100% of all business outsourced- the dream situation from the consultant accounts view.
