China Airlines Signs Nose Landing Gear Overhaul Agreement for 18-Aircraft A350 Fleet
en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 22, Liebherr-Aerospace announced that it has reached a commercial agreement with China Airlines to carry out a nose landing gear exchange and overhaul program for its fleet of 18 Airbus A350 aircraft. The program is scheduled to begin in 2026 and continue through 2031, with services also including asset exchange to support the airline's maintenance schedule and fleet availability management.
This contract covers the A350 nose landing gear system and does not involve the main landing gear. The system is developed, manufactured and certified by Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH, which is Liebherr-Aerospace's center of competence for flight control, landing gear systems, gears and electronics. In April this year, Liebherr already began the first A350 nose landing gear overhaul in Lindenberg, Germany, with the related inspection and repair work performed in-house at its OEM facility.
China Airlines will become the first customer in Asia for Liebherr's A350 nose landing gear overhaul program. Under the agreement, Liebherr will not only perform component overhauls but also support maintenance turnaround through exchange units, reducing the impact on aircraft ground time caused by waiting for inspection and repair after landing gear removal. The contract has not yet disclosed specific induction batches, per-unit overhaul turnaround times or financial amounts.
As of August 31, 2026, China Airlines actually operated 17 A350-900 aircraft, and its 2026 fleet plan is to increase this to 18 by the end of the year. This Liebherr contract is executed on the basis of an 18-aircraft A350 fleet, aligning with China Airlines' fleet plan to add A350s during the year.
The two parties have previously cooperated on aviation component maintenance. Liebherr had provided air conditioning and bleed air system component maintenance support for China Airlines' A321neo fleet, with its Singapore service center handling related materials and component maintenance services. This cooperation further extends to the A350 landing gear overhaul business.
