Lufthansa Technik is investing up to $500 million in preparing for the A380, Chairman August Hennigsen told ATWOnline during last week's proving flight from Frankfurt to New York JFK (ATWOnline, March 20). "We intend to offer complete MRO support for the aircraft," he said, noting that LHT acquired expertise as its engineers were involved in the A380 specification. LHT also was involved closely in defining Lufthansa's cabin and IFE configuration.

There is a potential capacity crunch looming for landing gear MRO, according to Lufthansa Technik Director-Business Unit, Landing Gear Hamburg Michael Kirstein.

Citing strict cost control and increased revenues mainly from customers outside Lufthansa Group, Lufthansa Technik Group reported net income of €153.1 million ($167.6 million) in 2006, a healthy 17.7% increase compared to the €127.6 million earned in 2005. Revenues rose 9.4% to €3.4 billion, with revenues from group airlines ahead 5.1% to €1.4 billion, representing 40% of total sales. Revenues generated from external customers grew 12.5% and represented 60% of sales, up from 58.3% in 2005.

CFM International and Indian Airlines signed an MOU to establish a CFM56 MRO joint venture in India. The shop will perform "the full spectrum of services" for CFM56-5B and -7B engines, CFM said. Indian operates six -5B-powered A319s and has 43 A320 family aircraft on order.

Infospectrum, a California-based software development company, systems integrator and implementation specialist primarily active in the aerospace and defense sectors, has acquired the Avexus family of IT solutions for asset management including airline maintenance repair and overhaul. Infospectrum, which started in 1993, is very familiar with the Avexus line, President Suresh Radhakrishnan told ATWOnline, because it was part of the implementation team and was providing most of Avexus's global support. "We came to know quite a bit about the products' capabilities," he said.

American Airlines Maintenance Services and the Transport Workers Union, which represents AA's 27,000 maintenance workers, said yesterday that $175 million in customer revenue in 2007 is an attainable goal following the generation of $95 million worth of third-party maintenance in 2006.

VEM Maintenance and Engineering aims to become a major player in the repair and maintenance of Airbus aircraft in South America, according to Filipe Morais de Almeida, who joined the company as CEO last October from Bombardier Portugal, where he served as chairman and CEO. VEM, the former Varig Engineering & Maintenance, was acquired by TAP Portugal in early 2006 (ATWOnline, Jan. 16, 2006).

Pratt & Whitney and China Eastern Airlines signed an agreement yesterday to create a CFM56 engine overhaul facility in Shanghai, where P&W will maintain the airline's CFM56 engines as well as provide third-party MRO.